Forgotten Love
by AnimeChica93
Summary: The sequel to The Night Where It All Started. It has been 5 yrs since that fateful night. Life was back to normal. Even the memory of everyone turning into their costumes, was forgotten. When Ash finds a familiar redhead, everything changes as his dark side awakens. Why is the girl so familiar to Ash? Will his dark side bring his memories back? Or will it ruin him? Find out!
1. The Feeling

**Forgotten Love**

 **Description:** A Pokémon fanfic **–** Sequel to The Night Where It All Started

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokémon! There enough said.

 **Rating:** T plus mature subject matter

 **Note:** _thoughts_

 **Ages:** Ash:24 Brock:26

* * *

 ** Part 1**

"Ash, you sure?" Asked Brock, a little unsure of his best friend's decision.

"Yea Brock, I'll be fine. See ya later."

Ash quickly left the apartment that he was sharing with Brock, while Brock watched him go out that door, while Pikachu was sleeping in the corner of the room just like always.

 _If I don't go, I'll never get this stupid dream out of my head._

Thought Ash as he left the apartment building, hands stuffed in his leather fall jacket. Ever since that day he found that random mallet on the ground, every night since then hasn't been the same. It seemed that every other night he dreamt about being a dark creature, preying on the week and the defenceless. That never really bothered him as much as the mystery girl he was dreaming about. And every time that girl was in his dreams, it always ended up with him draining the life out of her, or forcing her to do his bidding in any way that pleased him. That alone scared the hell out of him.

It was last night that things were different. Well, different in his dreams that is. He dreamt that he was standing in a familiar open field, at night. But this time, for the first time in forever, he was himself. He dreamt that he was on that field for a reason. But not even a minute later, he heard a female voice call out his name. Suddenly, he knew he wasn't alone. Yet, he looked around and saw nothing but an endless open field shrouded in the night's darkness. That was when he caught a glimpse, in the corner of his eye, red hair flowing in the distance. Just for a split second. Then not only was the red air gone, but he was suddenly sitting up in his bed, sweating like he ran a marathon.

 _Tonight is the night. I can feel it._

But as Ash thought back to his conversation with Brock earlier today, he started to doubt that anything would happen tonight.

"Brock, I'm not crazy. I heard a girl call out to me."

"In your dream, Ash. That doesn't mean it was real."

"Then how else do you explain the constant nightmares that I've been having for who knows how long? And now suddenly out of nowhere, a brand new dream where a girl is calling out to me? I'm pretty sure there's more to it."

Brock sighed as he sat down on the couch in the living room, with a cup of coffee in his hands.

"Even if someone was calling out to you, how can you be so sure that it's real? And not you imagining things?"

Ash stared at Brock for a minute, and then slowly looked away. He didn't know how, and he didn't know why, but somewhere in his gut he knew that this was more than just a mere dream. All he knows for a fact, that the repeating dreams started from the moment he found that mallet so many years ago. But, now the more he thinks about it, the more he can't remember further then that moment. It was like his memories started at that point. Yet, he knows how he and Brock became friends, he remembers becoming friends with Pikachu, and he remembers most of his Journey to becoming a Master. But he feels like there are holes in his memories. And not just tiny ones.

Ash crossed to the drawer in the cabinet at the living room, pulled out the mallet, and turned to face Brock.

"Brock, do you ever feel like that there is something missing, and yet you can't tell what it is?"

A little puzzled, Brock slightly tilted his head. "Uh, depends on what you mean?"

As Ash played with the mallet in his hands, he tried to solve, with no success, the never ending puzzle in his mind.

"It's just...feels like something...no...someone is missing."

Slowly Brock got up, slightly alarmed.

"What do you mean by someone is missing? Ash, I don't think I have to remind you that it was always just you, me, and our Pokémon. No one else. Well, until May showed up, and we started having more companions." Brock chuckled at that last comment.

Ash tried to smile with Brock, but he just couldn't. Because he knows, deep in his heart that Brock is wrong. Yet there is no proof that he isn't. Sure after May came along, it wasn't just him and Brock anymore. But he just can't shake that feeling that there was someone before her. Someone close to his heart.

Ash shook his head. "Ya, until you left me to fly solo."

Brock stopped laughing, and just smiled at Ash. "Well I had to, you know? Our paths were becoming different. I became a doctor, and you became..."

"The Champion."

Brock smiled. "Exactly."

Ash smiled at Brock, until Brock continued with a mischievous grin.

"Well, until of course, you found yourself jobless, while you apparently moved out of your mom's house and begged me to take you in."

Ash's face turned slightly red from embarrassment.

"You know that's not entirely true! I moved out from my mom's house cause she kicked me out saying that I was old enough to live on my own. And the fact that I couldn't find any decent trainers to battle for some time, has nothing to do with begging to live with you and becoming jobless!"

Clearly Brock was having fun poking fun of Ash.

"So, what was that about coming to me saying that you have nowhere to sleep, and can't afford a place to stay in?"

Still red, Ash sharply turned away from Brock, knowing that he, unfortunately, was right.

"Whatever. Everyone has their own opinion."

Ash needed to go outside and get some fresh air. And it wasn't because of Brock teasing him about his past, but he needed to clear his head, or at the very least work something out.

"I'm going out." Ash said abruptly, after putting the mallet back in the drawer.

"Ash, you sure?" Asked Brock, a little unsure of his best friend's decision.

"Yea Bock, I'll be fine. See ya later."

That's when Ash snapped back to the present and found himself standing at a park, which was in the middle of town, blinking trying to see through the night, well, as much as he can at least.

"Ash, you really need to stop daydreaming."

Said Ash to himself as he looked around his surroundings. And then he realized something. He was in an open field. At night. It may be a park in the middle of town, which he came to thousands of times before, but this time around, it seemed just like that field in his dream.

"Oh no. This is not happening. Okay, Ash. Breath."

As he tried to calm himself, he listened for a voice. He listened hard. But there was nothing. And he just stood there for what seemed like hours. But still all he heard where the crickets, passing cars, and occasional music coming from the cars. But the voice never came.

And then he started to laugh from relief.

"Ha, nothing happened. Ha-ha...It was just my imagination going crazy. Brock was right! There is no one look..."

Suddenly, a bright white light flashed in the middle of the field, for a split second. When Ash regained his eyesight, he saw a figure standing where the light had shone.

"What the..."

Suddenly the figure moved, as it turned around towards him. But as the figure came closer to the park lights, he could see that the figure was taking shape of someone slim.

At that moment, Ash jumped out of sight behind a tree. Whatever that was, he didn't want to confront it. Especially not at night.

As the figure slowly revealed itself under the street light a good few yards away from the hidden Ash, he knew that things will never be the same again. What he saw confused and scared the hell out of him.

He saw a slim girl. With an orange shirt and blue overalls.

But what really caught his attention, was her long wavy red hair.

* * *

 **Author's note:**

Hey everybody! Let's just say I am pretty stoked to give this story another go. There was a lot of people liking The Night Where It All Started. But a lot of you (or majority) of you were pretty upset at how it ended. And to be honest, so was I...as a reader lol. So I was like "You know what? No. Misty is coming back." And since Ash had some, well...memory issues, its only right to continue from there. So keep an eye out, and see you all in the next chapter! :D


	2. Familiar Stranger

**Forgotten Love**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokémon! There enough said.

 **Rating:** T plus mature subject matter

 **Note:** _thoughts_

 **Ages:** Ash:24 Misty:22

* * *

 **Part 2**

As Ash was hiding behind the tree, from the mystery girl who appeared out of nowhere from the blinding light, he couldn't help but stare at the girl in front of him.

"Well, at least it worked." She looked around her surroundings a little confused. "And where the hell am I?"

As Ash was still hiding behind the tree, he couldn't help but feel so transfixed about this girl. If he didn't know any better, he'd probably think that she was some kind of alien. Appearing from the light and all. But yet, he can't put his finger on what was so familiar to him.

 _Dammit, why does she seem so familiar? Wait...is she even human? She has to be an alien, only aliens travel in light like that. Like teleportation_ _or something._ He shook his head. _You've been watching way too many science fiction movies lately, Ash. Focus._

"Hm. I wonder if anyone is around."

As the red-head walked a little closer to him, Ash crept closer to the tree so he wouldn't be seen.

 _Seriously? Why does she have to come so close? Does she know I'm behind this tree?_

Suddenly the girl shrieked.

"Ah! What the hell!? How is this even possible!?"

Ash dared to spare a glance towards the girl. He noticed that she was standing beside the park's garbage can, holding a newspaper in her hands. Right where his tree was.

"I swear I was in there for like, ten minutes! How in the hell could it possibly be five years!"

She crunched up the newspaper into a ball and threw it towards Ash's direction, unknowingly.

"UGH! I hate this!"

At that moment the newspaper hit Ash's face. "Ugh."

The girl tensed in shock. "What the...is someone there?"

 _Ugh, I guess not. Stupid newspaper._

Ash didn't dare move, let alone speak.

"Just so you know, I have a Gyarados! So don't mess with me, whoever you are!"

 _Seriously a Gyarados? She must be bluffing_.

A moment of dreadful silence passed as the girl panicked, or so it seemed.

"I warned you! Go Gyarados!"

 _Shit!_

Panic struck Ash as he stumbled on the ground, right in the light of the street lamp.

"Oh. My. God...Ash?! Is that you?!"

She knew his name? How? They never met before. Ash shook his head from the confusion and pulled himself off from the ground.

He looked around expecting to see a Gyarados. It was just an open empty field.

 _Huh, so she was bluffing. Well...I'm an idiot._

He looked back towards the girl. "I...uh...well...uh...well no offence, but we never met. So...I...uh...gotta go."

He turned around and ran from her for a few seconds. But something made him stop. He knew two things. One, this strange girl somehow knows his name, even though they never met. That means that she has to know something. And two, if his mother ever taught him anything, is to never leave anybody stranded. Pokémon or people. Even if they might be alien. And by the looks of things she seems to be lost.

Ash slowly turned back around to see the girl, sitting on the park bench with her hands to her head, and she was shaking.

 _Is she crying?_

Ash walked back towards her cautiously. He always hated seeing girls cry.

"Um, are you okay? Don't tell me I made you cry."

The girl turned her head away, and let her hands fall to her lap, but he couldn't see her face.

"I'm fine. Besides, I thought you had to go."

Her voice sounded harsh, and yet he could tell that she was hurt. Did he hurt her feelings somehow?

He checked his watch. _Damn it is late._

"Well yea, it's late. I kinda have to go back home."

"Then go." The girl still didn't move.

He didn't know why, but he started to feel irritated. Perhaps it's because he feels annoyed at himself, since he can't for the love for all that is holly, leave a girl alone late at night.

 _I can't just leave her here...Can I? I mean she could be an alien for all I know. But she's a girl, and she's alone, with nowhere to go..._

"Ugh! Fine. You can come with me."

The girl wiped her eyes, and looked up at Ash with tears coming down her eyes.

"Huh? What did you just say?"

Ash sighed. "I said, you can come with me."

Suddenly, the red-head stood up with excitement, and yet there were still remains of tears on her face and eyes. "Are you serious!?"

 _Jeez. What is with this chick?_

"Uh, yea. But just for tonight. You can crash at my place. After that, you're on your own."

The girl nodded. "Thanks, I guess."

Ash smiled, and held out his hand. "Well, I'm Ash Ketchum."

The girl smiled. "I know..." Ash threw her a questioning look. She cleared her throat. "Well, I'm Misty."

Ash raised his eyebrows. "No last name?"

Misty blinked a few times. "Oh. Uh...no. Just Misty."

"Huh. Well, welcome to Viridian City, Misty."

Misty looked around at the nearby buildings aglow in the night sky.

"It looks a lot different since the last time I was here."

Ash's eyebrows rose again. "You were here before?"

Misty smiled a small smile. "Yeah, a long time ago. I remembered there used to be a cute little park for water Pokémon in this city."

 _Huh, maybe she's not an alien. But still..._

Ash rubbed the back of his head, man was he tired.

"Yeah there was one. But they tore it down for a building or something a couple of years back."

Misty shook her head. "Should have figured as much. Such a shame though. It was such a beautiful park."

Ash just stared at her. "It was for water Pokémon."

Misty returned a slight glare towards him. "And what's so wrong about water Pokémon?"

Ash blinked. "Uh, because they are lame. Well, most of them are anyways."

"What!? No they are not! They are beautiful creatures!" Ash could practically see her daydreaming through her eyes.

"Not to mention slimy and scaly."

"Ugh!" She raised her hands up in the air in exasperation. "Why do I even bother talking to you!?"

Ash smirked. "Maybe because you need a place to stay for tonight?"

That stopped Misty right in her tracks. She crossed her arms in an exasperated huff, and looked away from him. Ash laughed.

"C'mon water princess, you don't wanna be left out here all alone, do you?"

Misty looked around at her surroundings and noticed that not only was a thin fog starting to roll in, but a sudden chill came towards her. She shivered.

"All right. I'm coming."

As they walked towards Brock's apartment, Ash can't help but shake the feeling that somehow, someway, things will only get better with Misty around. Well, he was half right.

* * *

 **Author's note:**

Well, I for one am happy. Yes, Misty is back people. You all happy now? Lol. But the real question is, how and why is she back? Is she back just to be with Ash? Or for something else? Stay tuned!


	3. The Start Of Something New

**Forgotten Love**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokémon! There enough said.

 **Rating:** T plus mature subject matter

 **Note:** _thoughts_

 **Ages:** Ash: 24 Misty:22 Brock:26

* * *

 **Part 3**

The walk to Brock's apartment was the most awkward and silent walk of Ash's life. For one thing he was at a loss for words, and yet normally he is always the first one to crack a joke when he first meets someone. But not this time around, he's dead silent. He barely knows this girl walking beside him. All he knows is that she has a thing for water Pokémon, for some odd reason that he won't even want to begin to understand. Besides that, he knows nothing about her.

"We're almost there."

Misty looked around her for a minute, then back to the ground like she was nervous about something.

"I wonder if he'll remember."

Ash pretended not to hear that, as he couldn't make sense of it anyways.

 _Man, she is one weird chick. And who the heck is she talking about anyways?_

Suddenly Misty stopped, eyeing a closed clothing store.

"Uh, what are you doing?"

She turned towards him. "What do you think? I'm going shopping."

Ash just stared at her. "The shop is closed."

Misty turned back towards the shop, with a huff.

"Hmp. I don't know about you, being all sweaty and not caring about hygiene, but I've got to change clothes. It's been way too long since I changed any clothes at all. It's about time that I got a new wardrobe."

Ash just stared after her. "And how do you plan to do that when the shop is closed?"

She turned slightly back towards him and winked. "Just watch and learn."

Misty brought out a Pokeball, held it for a second, and said before releasing whatever was inside.

"Please let this work...Go Psyduck!"

Ash's eyes went huge.

 _You've got to be kidding me. A friggin Psyduck? She's not serious is she?_

As Psyduck came out, it stayed silent. Watching its reflection on the door, with its hands on its head.

Misty crouched to Psyduck's level.

"Psyduck, I need your help. Remember our training in that strange place?"

Psyduck nodded slowly.

Misty continued. "I need you to open that door using Psychic."

Psyduck cocked his head to its side, with question marks all over its face. Misty was getting annoyed.

"Just do it, you dumb duck!"

Psyduck cried out its name and flailed its hands towards the door, concentrating really hard on the door knob.

While all of that was going on, Ash just stood there watching everything unfold before him, like he was in a dream.

 _Why does it feel like I've seen this before? Well not breaking into the store using a Psyduck of all Pokémon, but it's something else..._

"Coming in Ash?"

Snapping back into the present, Ash saw that the door to the shop was opened, and the alarms were silent. Looking around, that Psyduck was nowhere to be seen.

"How did you...teach Psyduck to do that? What? Are you a criminal or something?"

Misty looked towards the ground, while holding onto the door knob, hard.

"When you're in a situation where all you can do is survive, scavenging lands for a scrap of food, trying to make it one day at a time...not knowing when it'll be your last...well, you tend to learn a thing or two."

Speechless, Ash watched her as she held on to that door knob so tightly even her knuckles started to turn white. He watched her as she was having flashbacks, knowing well enough how it feels to relive things best forgotten.

He breathed out slowly and walked over to her. As he reached her, he placed a hand on her shoulder, as she looked up.

"Don't worry. Whatever you went through, it's over and done now. You're safe." He smiled softly towards her. Even though they just met, he already feels some sort of kinship towards her, and maybe for a split second he hoped they could even become good friends.

Misty smiled thankfully. "Thanks Ash." She pulled away slowly. "You know, if you were there, you wouldn't have survived a day without food constantly in your face." She giggled teasingly.

 _Then again..._

As Ash frowned at her, Misty laughed quietly and walked into the store in the dark.

Ash didn't even bother to go after her into the store. Just in case the cameras were still active, never minding the alarms. If she was some sort of criminal, then he didn't want anything to do with her while she does stuff like this.

Ash shook his head in amazement. _Breaking into a clothing store with a Psyduck. Either she is really good, or really insane._

Smiling, he looked up into the night sky, leaning against the outside of the store's brick walls, and noticed that in just mere hours, the sun will break out into the sky and start a new day. It was still dark, but the darkness has lessened a bit, letting in a bit of light into the sky.

 _Kinda symbolic actually. I just met her, and yet I haven't felt this peaceful in ages. Even if I am an accomplice_.

He secretly smiled to himself, kinda liking the sound of that, despite being a well renowned Champion to trainers everywhere and authorities, mostly helping to stop Team Rocket.

"So, what do you think?"

Slightly surprised, he let his hands drop and properly stood on the ground away from the store's wall, as he looked at her. She wore a sleek dark navy blue jean vest; her shirt was a yellow crop top shirt, totally showing off her abs and bellybutton. Her shorts were also the same dark navy blue color as her vest, but barely covering her top half of her thighs. But this time instead of wearing sneakers, she wore blank ankle boots that somehow made her look taller. To top off her look, her hair was tied up into a high ponytail, and her bangs were swept to the side. She almost looked like a bad-ass cheerleader of sorts. She was incredibly good looking, not to mention hot, and Ash couldn't do anything but stare.

"What? What is it? Is it a little too much?...Oh I knew it! It's the boots, they totally don't go with this outfit, but that's the only thing remotely decent I found that would go with this..."

Ash shook his head quickly. "N-no. That's not it. It's just you look so..."

"Ridiculo-"

Ash shook his head and cut her off. "Pretty."

There was a short silence, as Ash registered what he just said. Then he suddenly wanted to mentally slap himself in the face.

"Oh. Thanks, I guess."

 _You idiot! You just had to say that. What are you in kindergarten? Jeez Ash, grow some balls._

Misty walked up to him and smiled at him, like what he just said didn't matter to her at all.

"So weren't we going to your place? I am pretty exhausted."

Ash shook his head, trying to shush the babble going on in his mind, as he smiled back at her and led the way to Brock's apartment.

By the time they got to the apartment building, Ash managed to make a joke, or two, about Misty's Psyduck, while she pretended to be offended, even though she let a giggle or two escape.

Looking up at the building, Misty asked in wonder. "So this is where you live? Pretty impressive actually."

"Yea, but I forgot to mention that I have a roommate."

Misty all so expertly plastered a surprise face, towards Ash, knowing fully well who he was talking about.

"You could have told me that before. Jeez."

Ash cringed. "Sorry. I just thought you should know before you see him."

Hands on her hips she sternly looked at him. "Well? Go on. Tell me. Who is he?"

Ash smiled. "His name is Brock. And he's a really good cook too, not to mention that he's a doctor. So if you get sick, he's your man."

Ash could see that she was biting her cheek, as if she was either trying not to laugh or smile, he couldn't tell. _Man this chick is weird. She's too damn hot, but weird as hell._ _Well, I guess you can't have everything._ At that thought Ash chuckled to himself.

"What are you laughing at?"

Ash blinked and shook his head. "Nothing. Let's go."

As they entered into the building and into the elevator, Misty kept her gaze on the ground, as if she was nervous about something.

"You alright?" Ash asked her slightly concerned.

Misty said nothing but just nodded.

When the elevator beeped, and its doors opened, Misty suddenly became stiff, only her legs were moving. Ash just ignored that as he led the way to Brock's apartment.

As they stopped in front of the door, Ash glanced at her and sighed.

"You know you could at least smile. If you go in like this well...who knows what they might think."

Misty looked up at him a little confused. "They?"

He smiled. "Yeah. Brock and my other best friend, Pikachu."

Misty's soft smile returned. "Oh, right. Of course."

"You ready?"

Misty smiled, straightened herself up and nodded.

Ash opened the door, and not even a second later, Pikachu jumped into his arms, happy that he came back safely. But at that moment, Misty tensed up as her and Pikachu's eyes met. They just stared silently at each other as Brock spoke up.

"Dude, really? It's 5am! Where the hell were you?"

"Well um..." Ash didn't move as he blocked Misty's view of Brock. "Well, you see...I went out for a walk, when I saw this girl crying on a park bench. She's new to the town, and doesn't have a place to crash, so I offered her my place and..."

Brock's eyebrows shot up as he waved his hands. "Woah, hold on. You met a girl, and you brought her here?"

Ash just nodded. _Well that's technically not a lie. But I can't tell him exactly what happened. He'd think I'd finally gone off the deep end._ He shivered inwardly. _Yeah, that's not gonna happen._

"Well? Where is she?"

Ash moved aside, so Brock can see Misty.

Misty walked up to Brock with a smile on her face. As Pikachu kept staring at her.

"Hi. I'm Misty. And thanks for letting me stay here for tonight. But I promise I'll get out of your way by tomorrow."

Those words shot a tiny pain towards Ash's heart. _What the hell? Why am I feeling this why? I just met the girl!...Oh no I can't be crushing on her already!...or can I?_ Ash shook his head hard. _No. No. Nonononono. That's so not happening._

Brock smiled. "Oh, hi. I'm Brock. Ash must have told you all about me, and that this, is technically my place."

Misty eyes went big in surprise. "Really? Cuz when we first met he said that it was his place. He only mentioned you right before we came into the building."

Brock turned towards Ash, as Ash gulped. "Oh really? Well that's unfortunate that he lied to you."

Misty also turned towards Ash with an evil grin on her face. "And to think a Pokémon Champion like himself, would have earned enough money to own a place by now. What a shame."

Ash was getting annoyed. "Ugh! Mind your own business! At least I'm not the one with a water Pokémon fetish!"

Misty was getting annoyed herself. "It's not a fetish! I just prefer them over other ones, that's all."

"It's totally a fetish!"

"It's not!"

"IT'S SO!"

"IT'S NOT!"

"Guys c'mon don't fight!"

Both Ash and Misty turned towards Brock. "He/She started it!"

They both looked at each other sharply.

Misty looked at Ash straight in the eye. "Stop copying me!"

Ash also stepped up towards her. "You started it!"

"DID NOT!"

"DID TOO!"

As Brock looked on towards them, he knew that despite having similar tempers, they'll end up being good friends. As Brock flinched from Misty's attack towards Ash, he only could hope that they wouldn't break each other's bones before they even become friends, or more.

* * *

Author's Note:

I have to be honest here. This chapter was one of the hardest chapters I wrote. Some of it was filler, but those filler had a purpose (or two) in them. So it wasn't totally useless. I even had to proofread and rewrite a whole chunk of this chapter over and over. Talk about writer's block. But I finally got it (or at least I hope I did), so guys just stay tuned for the next chapter and see you all in the New Year! :D


	4. Memories

**Forgotten Love**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokémon! There enough said.

 **Rating:** T plus mature subject matter

 **Note:** _thoughts_

 **Ages:** Ash: 24 Misty:22 Brock:26

 **Part 4**

Misty woke up with the sound of someone cooking in the kitchen. She lifted her hand to check her watch. It was noon. She shook her head.

 _Man, it's been a while since I slept that long._

As she sat up, she looked at her surroundings. She was in a small room with light brown walls, a small bookshelf tucked neatly in the corner, a medium sized dresser with an oval shaped mirror above it. She looked down and noticed that she was in a double sized bed, with her vest placed at the end of the bed. She looked down at herself and found that she was wearing her yellow crop top shirt and her mini shorts, while her hair was loose with her hair-tie on top of her vest, and her boots at the side of the bed.

She shook her head as she remembered last night. She remembered looking at the newspaper to discover that she has missed five years of her life. Five years. That's a long time to be gone from the world that she once knew. Anything could have changed during that time. And they have. When she somehow managed to come back, she finally saw Ash again. She was relieved and shocked to see him again. Relieved, because she finally saw a familiar friendly face. Shocked, because she was surprised to see how much Ash has grown. In her eyes, Ash was more muscular then she last saw him, his black hair had gotten darker and messier. But it was through his eyes, that she saw the change in him. She still recognized the kid that she once knew, but now she could see that he matured so much. He was becoming a man faster than anyone can possibly know, and that alone scared the hell out of her.

Misty sighed. "Oh man, what am I gonna do? I don't have anywhere to go. _Even my own sisters probably don't remember me._ And I told them that I'm leaving today."

As Misty looked down at the bed covers, Pikachu opened the door and jumped on top of the bed in front of Misty.

"Oh, hi Pikachu."

Pikachu tilted his head to the side and just stared at her.

"Are you alright?"

Pikachu straightened his head and slowly moved closer to Misty's hands and sniffed. After a few minutes, Pikachu's eyes widened with surprise.

"Pikachupi!" Pikachu jumped into Misty's arms.

"Woah! Pikachu... what..."

Pikachu climbed onto Misty's shoulders and rubbed his head against her cheek. "Pikachupi."

Just like a spark, Misty realized what was happening. "Wait... you remember me?"

Pikachu smiled. "Pika."

Suddenly Ash's voice roared into the room that Misty was in. "I'm back Brock! Is she awake yet?"

Slightly panicking, Misty lifted Pikachu from her shoulders and placed him on the bed in front of her, as Pikachu watched her curiously.

"Pikachu, promise me. Don't tell him that you know me. Or that you remember me. I don't know what he'll do if you suddenly tell him that I'm someone from his past... Just pretend I'm someone you just met. Okay?"

After a moment, Pikachu didn't say anything but only nodded with saddened eyes. That nearly broke Misty's heart. After a moment, Ash came into the bedroom.

"Oh, there you are Pikachu. I was looking for you." He looked up towards Misty. "Hey. How are you doing?"

Misty gave Pikachu a quick warning glance and smiled towards Ash. "I'm fine. Pikachu was just checking up on me. Right Pikachu?"

Pikachu turned towards Ash, and nodded with a happy reply.

Ash smiled. "Looks like Pikachu was worried about you. He probably likes you."

Misty kept her smile. "I guess. So, were you checking on me earlier?"

Ash's smile disappeared. "What makes you say that?"

Misty shook her head. "I heard you asking Brock if I was awake yet."

Ash breathed out. "Oh. Yea, I was. It's only right that a host makes sure his guest is okay."

Misty gave Ash a knowing smile. "Isn't this Brock's place?"

Ash semi-smiled. "Technically, yes. But I'm also his roommate. So, practically, I owe half of this place... so to speak."

Misty nodded. "Right." She looked around the bedroom. "So this is your room?"

Ash smiled a small smile. "Yeah... I slept in the living room last night. It looked like you really needed some sleep. So I let you sleep here."

Misty blushed as she realized, that if she wanted to stay here a little longer, she's either going to have to sleep on the couch... or share with Ash. Thing is, she wasn't ready to jump into that just yet. To her, the memories of that fateful Halloween night were still freshly imprinted on her mind. To her, it was like it happened last night.

"Uh, are you alright? You seem flushed. You're not sick are you?"

Misty blinked as she realized that she was still in Ash's bed. Suddenly those intimate moments that she shared with Ash, when he wasn't himself five years ago, rushed into her mind, making her blush harder.

"No. I'm fine." She quickly jumped off the bed, and slightly looked towards Ash, hiding her reddened face. "Do you mind if I use your shower?"

"No. Go ahead.'

Without a word, Misty rushed into the bathroom that was connected to Ash's room. She quickly closed and locked the door behind her, as she checked if there was a spare towel around. She started to hyperventilate, as she leaned against the door.

 _What is going on? Why am I feeling like this? Stupid Ash making me remember..._

Memories of Ash being a vampire and their dark intimate moments rushed into her mind like a damn had broken. Those lustful kisses. The intimate stares. Desire, love, lust, confusion, hurt. It all rushed back to her. She reached up towards her neck as the memory of Ash biting into her delicate skin for the first time, practically rocked her core. She remembered the first time she saw him as a full-fledged vampire. It was his eyes that she couldn't forget no matter how hard she tried. It was like her soul was sucked into his eyes, into his being. It was useless to fight. She just couldn't. She remembered how he lightly touched her back as he got closer to her, like she was a delicate flower. She remembers how her will just completely and utterly gave into him. How his sharp fangs pierced her soft delicate skin. That feeling of complete surrender rushed over her being. Yes, she was powerless, even scared as hell... And she loved it. She loved how he made her feel back then. It was something to cherish.

But now, she knows that nothing that dark and destructive will ever happen again. She made sure of that. She looked towards the mirror above his sink.

 _Funny... how everything started from something so seemingly innocent._

She stepped in front of the mirror, half expecting her bitchy other half to laugh at her. Thankfully it was just her own reflection. She sighed, trying to calm herself, turning the cold tap water on, while trying to calm her heated face.

Nothing like that could ever happen again. She defeated Lucia. She defeated the darkness that took over the town. The darkness that possessed Ash. But at what cost? She sacrificed herself so that everyone would be freed. She knew that by stepping into that light, she would be giving everything up. She knew that she would be forgotten. Utterly forgotten. She knew, even though it hurts like her heart was getting ripped apart, that Ash would move on with his life. Maybe get a new girl. Maybe a better looking, nicer brunette. Or a fun loving blond. But she wasn't expecting him to grow so….mature. Maybe he does have a girlfriend; he just didn't mention her yet. A hot guy like that would definitely have some girl clinging on to him...

 _Ugh! What am I thinking!? And since when did Ash get hot? Like what the heck are you thinking!? Yea sure, when he was a vampire..._ She blushed at the memory of how unbelievably hot he was, as a creature of the night. _Ugh! Get a hold of yourself! Ash will always be annoying, cocky, and not to mention dense. There is no friggin way I'm falling for that all over again. No way in hell..._

As she shook her head and angrily turned on the shower, her more recent memory of Ash came into the forefront of her mind. Him being so considerate towards her, just as when she lost all hope towards being with Ash again. And the way he looked at her when she got her new outfit. She never thought that she would see that look in his eyes again. She sighed, defeated.

 _Maybe this time around, things would be different... Maybe we could have a do over... the right way._

As she stepped into the shower, closing the curtains behind her, and letting the hot shower water run down her body, she thought back to the time that she was in that strange place. She remembered what happened the instant she came into that world. She was instantly hunted….by….things…that she couldn't even describe. And all she had were the clothes on her back, and her Pokémon. It was only inevitable that her perseverance and pure survival instincts found her the solace that she was craving. Her freedom. But she was not expecting the time difference between that world, and her home. Being in that world seemingly for a handful of minutes, would result in years passing by here. And so here she is, five years later, according to the newspaper, in Ash's bathroom.

Her eyes widened as she realized a simple fact that, she doesn't even know how old she is. She remembers being nineteen. But that was before she came into that place. She knows that she's older. Not only does she feel older, but she definitely saw it in the mirror. But the real question is…how old is she? Did that time difference count in that world? Or did time sit still? If that was the case she would be nineteen. But she knows deep in her heart that she's older than that. Just like that, a light-bulb figuratively flashed above her head, as she realized that her watch not only can tell time, but years as well.

She lifted her watch and just stared wide eyed at it.

 _What the hell? THREE YEARS!? Did I somehow jump ahead three years? When the hell did this happen?_

After a moment she dropped her hand back to her side, as she stood letting the water flow over her body.

 _I guess... that makes me 22... but wait, that makes Ash..._

As Misty did the math, counting her fingers, she realized something vital.

 _Ah hell! He's 24! He's older than me! Even though we were supposed to be the same age! Oh this is so not cool!_

She lightly banged her forehead on the shower wall.

... _What am I going to do? I am a homeless 22 year old. Nobody knows me, hell nobody even remembers me. Not Ash, or Brock... but then again Pikachu does... maybe there is a reason to that?_

Misty shook her head as she turned off the shower.

 _No. I can't worry about that right now. One problem at a time. First, I need to find a place of my own. But for that to happen I need to find a job... No matter what it takes, I'm not gonna stick around long enough for anything to happen between me and Ash. Not this time around._

At that moment a knock came at the washroom door.

"Hey, uh Misty? Are you done yet? I kinda need to use the shower."

Misty blinked, as she stepped out of the shower.

"Yea, just give me a minute."

She quickly put all of her clothes back on, after drying herself. She shook her hair, as most of the water came off, leaving her hair in wet waves over her shoulders. She quickly opened the door, and ran smack into Ash.

"Oh geez. Sorry about that."

Ash just stared at her.

"What is it Ash? You seem a little out of it."

He shook his head.

"Uh... it's nothing... Anyways Brock made some breakfast for you in the kitchen."

Misty smiled. _Of course he did_. "Alright, thanks."

As Misty walked away, Ash just stared at her. But when she was gone, Ash looked down into his hands... and looked at the pair of fake fangs that Pikachu gave to him just moments before Misty came out of the bathroom.

He knew two things. One, he is for some strange reason strongly attracted to her, even though they just met. And two, the moment that they bumped into each other, Ash had a quick memory flash. He didn't know if it was a memory of a dream, or reality. But it was an image of him drinking from Misty's neck. He didn't know why, but he wasn't afraid of that image. He was afraid of the fact that he liked it.

He clenched the fangs in his fist, and marched into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.

 **Author's Note:**

Ok, first things first. I am sooooooo sorry to everyone who waited a long time for this chapter. A bunch of life stuff happened to me that just kept delaying everything. Like me graduating from college o.o Oh god….I'm an adult. . Lol BUT, on the other hand I'll try to update whenever I can. All I can say is things are only gonna get better from here xP. See you all later!


	5. Ash's Trigger

**Forgotten Love**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokémon! There enough said.

 **Rating:** T plus mature subject matter

 **Note:** _thoughts_

 **Ages:** Ash: 24 Misty:22

* * *

 **Part 5**

Standing inside the bathroom, clenching the fake fangs in his fist, Ash's mind began to race.

 _What the hell was that just now?... Was that me?... What the hell was I doing?! And to Misty no less! But wait... hold the flipping phone..._ He shook his head. _Ash you're loosing it. That couldn't have been Misty. I mean you just met the girl for crying out loud! So how can that be her!?... But wait... then that means it couldn't have been a memory. Could it?_ He ruffled his hair in confusion. "Ah! What the hell am I thinking!? This crap is driving me crazy!" He held his head for a moment. "Man my head hurts from all this thinking!" He looked down at the fangs in his fist. "And why the hell am I still holding this crap!?"

Without looking where and for what he was aiming at, he threw the pair of fake fangs straight at the bathroom mirror. The second after it hit the sink, unnoticed by Ash, his reflection just stared at him with dark calculating eyes.

Walking right past the mirror, Ash made his way to the shower. While he was turning on the water and preparing to shower, his reflection was still in the mirror watching him with narrow dark eyes.

 _I mean yea, don't get me wrong. She's hot. Anyone can see that. But there is no way in hell that I would bite her!_ His face reddened like a tomato. _Okay maybe I would... if we ever get that far!_ He shook his head as he got into the shower, still with a red face. _What the hell am I thinking?! I wouldn't bite her! At least not like that!... And I seriously doubt that we'll even get THAT far. I mean hello! I just met the girl! And I'm already thinking of biting her?! Geezus, I'm worse than Brock!_

 _And who knows! She could be an alien for all I know! I mean, who else would use light to travel like that? Yea, she was here before, but that doesn't make her innocent of being a friggin alien! I swear, sooner or later I'm gonna corner her and I'll make her tell me how the hell she even did that! Like hello! I wanna travel by light too!_ Stars were practically forming in his eyes. _That would be so cool! I would be a superhero!_

He slipped and fell on his bottom as he got too excited. "OW!... Ok that hurt." He whined as he sat there trying to smooth his pain as the shower water kept running down.

"Idiot."

Ash froze. He was pretty damn sure that he was the only one in the bathroom right now. And yet, that voice sounded like someone was here calling him an idiot. Now that pissed him off. Nobody calls him an idiot and gets away with it.

"Who the hell said that?!" He yelled as he got up. Unfortunately he slipped again but this time he grabbed the shower curtain figuring that it would help him stop falling. But instead, he fell straight to the bathroom floor. All while the water kept running down making a bigger mess.

"OOOWWWWAAAAH!"

"You are truly an idiot."

Temporarily forgetting his pain, he got up covered by the shower curtain and water, holding his fist in front of him, really getting annoyed.

"Okay who's the wise guy here!? Show yourself!"

"Did anyone mention how big of a dolt you are? Oh wait, I have."

"Where the hell are you!?" Ash yelled as he looked all over the bathroom, tangling himself with shower curtain, still with the water on.

"Maybe you should turn off the water, unless you want it to leak into your apartment."

Temporally forgetting the unknown voice, Ash suddenly realized the shower water was still turned on.

"Oh crap!" He rushed towards the shower and turned off the water, still tangled in shower curtains. When he was done, he stood back up, looking around the bathroom.

"Alright. Who the hell are you!? And what can't I see you?"

There was a sigh. "I'm right here, you idiot."

"Where?"

"Look above the sink."

"What do you mean above the sink..." As Ash reached the bathroom mirror, he was shocked to see that his reflection was perfectly fine. No wet hair, no shower curtains tangled around him. But his eyes were darker than normal, even a bit sinister looking.

"What the..." Ash stared in horror at his reflection.

"Relax. I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm here to help."

"Who are you?"

"You. Duh."

Ash shook his head. "No. You're not. You might look like me, but I know you're not. Hell, your hair isn't even wet."

His reflection chuckled. "Yea... and I don't have shower curtains tangled all over me."

Ash looked down at himself. "Oh..."

His reflection sighed. "Detangle yourself, and get dressed. We need to talk."

Ash looked back at his reflection questioningly. "About what?"

His reflection just rolled his eyes. "Just get dressed."

Ash scowled as he started to free himself from the shower curtains. "No need to give me attitude."

"Whatever."

As Ash freed himself from the curtains, dried himself off, got dressed and cleaned up the mess, his reflection just stared at him. With eyes as dark as night, it watched Ash as it made a decision that would change everything for him.

Stepping back in front of the mirror, Ash looked at his reflection, a little bit more than annoyed.

"Okay. What do you want?"

His reflection looked down at the sink and the shower. "Turn the water on."

"What? I just turned it off!"

His reflection shook his head. "It's not for you, you moron. It's so others can't eavesdrop on us. And besides, you told her that you'll be taking a shower, didn't you? So turn the water on."

Ash sighed. "Even the sink?"

His reflection nodded. "The more noise the better."

Ash turned around and turned the shower back on, and angled the shower head so that the water would fall straight into the bathtub, without making a mess. Then he turned back towards the sink and turned the cold water on full blast. He looked back up at his reflection.

"There. Happy?"

Without cracking a smile, his reflection just slightly nodded. "Very."

Ash scowled. "Would it kill you to crack a smile?"

His reflection just shook his head. "Look, this is not a social call. I'm here on business."

Ash's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Business? Who the heck are you? And don't say you're me, because I know you're not."

Finally his reflection smiled a small smile. "You know, for an idiot, you're actually pretty smart. Okay, rarely. But you have you're moments."

Ash scowled again. "Ha-ha. Very funny. At least tell me your name?"

His reflection sighed. "You can call me Lucy. It's a shorter version of my name."

Ash tilted his head. "Lucy? I don't know if you've noticed, but it's a really girly name."

Lucy sighed again. "Yea. I get that a lot."

Ash smiled. "So Lucy cutie, what brings you hear?"

Lucy shook his head with a small smile. "You say that to all the girls?"

Ash returned Lucy's smile with his own, only with a little more cockiness to it. "What? You like?"

Finally Lucy laughed. "Oh man. Now I know what she sees in you."

Ash's smile disappeared. "Who?"

Lucy shook his head. "Misty. Who else?"

Ash's eyes widened. "Misty? Dude, I barely know her. In fact I just recently met her."

Lucy bit his lip, like he was debating on what to say. "You sure about that?"

Ash just stared at Lucy. "What do you mean?'

Lucy scratched the back of his head and cleared his throat. "Well..." He brought down his hand and looked Ash right in the eye. "Ok, tell me something. Have you had any strange visions, or dreams or anything lately?"

Ash nodded. "I have. But why does it matter?"

Lucy just stared at him. "Tell me about them."

It was Ash's turn to scratch the back of his head. "Well..." As he brought his hand down, he decided that maybe this Lucy look-a-like of him might know something. "I did have this dream of a girl calling out to me. I was in an open field at night. And I remember red hair flowing in the distant for a second, and then it disappears."

Lucy nodded knowingly. "Did you have that dream again since you found Misty?"

Ash blinked in surprise. "Do you think it was her in my dream?"

Lucy shrugged. "Perhaps. But tell me, how did you find her?"

Ash scoffed. "I honestly think she's an alien. I mean who else travels in light?"

Lucy unsuccessfully tried to hide a smile. "I see."

Ash wasn't fooled. "You know something...don't you?"

Lucy tried to cover a laugh with a cough. "Perhaps. What did she tell you exactly?"

Ash blinked as he thought back to the night that he talked to her for the first time. "Well, like what?"

Lucy just stared at Ash. "Like how she got there or where she's from?"

Ash blinked in slight confusion. "Well, she did say that she was in Viridian before."

"Anything else?"

Ash thought back to what Misty told him, right before she broke into the store to do what she called shopping.

"Well, she did mention that she was in some place that she had to survive one day at a time for. I thought she was just crazy, or stressed out. But I'm guessing that she was telling the truth?" Ash looked towards Lucy for answers.

Lucy closed his eyes and nodded. "It's true. She was somewhere not like here on Earth."

Ash's eyebrows raised in surprise. "What the heck do you mean?"

Lucy sighed. "This is why I made my presence known to you. I don't usually do that, nor do I mess around with humans...unlike someone else I know. Well, at least not like that."

As Lucy shook his head, Ash started to think that whoever or whatever this Lucy person or thing is, has gone bonkers.

"Okay, wait. What the hell are you talking about?"

Lucy sighed. "Look from her on, what I say to you must not be repeated to anyone else. Not Misty, nor Brock, especially not Pikachu. Not anyone."

"Pikachu? What does he have to do with this?"

Lucy shook his head. "My sister underestimated what her power was capable of, and who it affected. She didn't realise that it doesn't work on Pokémon, or anything else that isn't human for that matter. Sure for Pokémon its mild amnesia, but after a while their memories come back. Unlike humans, your memories were wiped clean. And as usual, I have to clean up her mess."

Ash's face scowled. "Memories wiped clean? What are you talking about?"

Lucy bit his lip again for just a moment, shook his head and sighed. It seemed like whatever he was going to tell Ash, was only purely just to help him. Or so it seemed to Ash.

"Remember that Halloween night, five years ago?"

Ash blinked. "What?"

Lucy shook his head. "Think back. Five years ago, you were still living with your mom. Who was with you back then?"

Ash just stared at his reflection. "It was just me, my mom, Pikachu and Brock."

"Anyone else?"

Ash raised his shoulders in exasperation. "I don't know! Who else could have been there? Well... I do remember Professor Oak, Gary and Tracey visiting, but that's about it."

Lucy's eyebrows lifted in surprised. "So nothing else happened that night?"

Ash shook his head in defeat. "Dude, honestly, it was five years ago. How the hell am I supposed to remember?"

After a silent moment, Ash's eyes slowly became round.

"But I do remember something. And I've been dreaming about it for so long now. And honestly at this point, I'm convinced that it was just a dream."

Lucy's eyes grew as he became more interested as to what Ash has to say. "Go on."

Ash shook his head like he was trying to remember.

"I think it was one morning at a Pokémon Centre. It was still dark out, but I couldn't sleep for some reason. So I got up and left towards the water's edge. I just sat down on the rocks and just stared out at the water. Thing is, I remember talking to someone then. I don't remember who. But I do remember having something around my neck. I know something must have happened. I don't know what, but I never felt such clarity in my life, then I did in that moment. But the weird thing is… that moment…was just it….a small short moment. Then it was gone. The next thing I remember is that I find this weird wooden mallet on the ground. I know it sounds weird. But I'm pretty sure it must have been a dream."

After a moment of absorbing what Ash said, Lucy nodded his head. "And what makes you think it was a dream?"

Ash raised his eyebrows in a joking matter. "You're kidding right? It must have been a dream. Since when do I wake up so early in the morning when it's still dark out just to go stare out the water? I never wake up that early. Unless... it's for training, or for a special occasion. And I'm pretty sure it was none of that."

Lucy bit his lip again, letting Ash know that Lucy has something to hide.

"You know something. So spill it."

Lucy sighed. "I don't think you're ready to hear the truth."

"You're kidding me right? Not ready? I've been dealing with this crap for five years. Five frigging years. I think it's about damn time that I hear the truth."

Lucy sighed again. "You sure?"

Ash narrowed his eyes at his reflection. "I'm pretty damn sure."

Breathing in, Lucy squared his shoulders and stared right at Ash, as if he was staring into his soul.

"You need to remember what happened five years ago that Halloween Night. The Universe depends on it. No thanks to my sister, the fabric of reality has cracked. Time is going haywire; the veils between dimensions have disappeared. I just merely showed Misty the right direction to escape that Hell Dimension. Not my Hell. But a different world entirely. She didn't belong there. And if she stayed there any longer... well, who knows what would have happened to that world. But definitely nothing good. The time skip she experienced was only a result of the transition between worlds. But, what happened that morning by the Centre was real. Misty was the person who talked to you then. She was there since the beginning. She was there when you started your journey. But, she was the one that finally defeated my sadistic sister, and saved you and the Town from her stupid curse... but with a price. And left a souvenir of sorts behind. Hence the mallet. But, most important of all... is the fact that not only is she your best friend... but she's your soul mate."

After what seemed like forever, Ash finally spoke up, shaking his head frantically.

"No. No, no, no, no, no. You're wrong. You're more than wrong. You're crazy."

Lucy sighed in defeat. "And what makes you say that?"

"I think I would have remembered my own life. Hello! I was there. And I think I would have remembered someone like her. Dude... I. Just. Met. Her. She is not someone from my past. She's new. And that mallet was a random thing I thought would be lucky for me."

"Was it lucky?"

Ash shrugged. "I honestly don't know. It's something that I just tossed into the drawer and forgotten about. That is, until I have those dreams. But that's it. I don't think it was lucky to begin with, to be honest."

Lucy saddened more than Ash would think humanly possible. "What would it take for you to believe, finally remember, and possibly save the universe?"

Ash scoffed. "How about some damn proof?"

As Lucy shook his head, he noticed the pair of fake fangs that were still in the sink, temporarily forgotten. His eyes widened as if he realized something.

"See those fake fangs there?" Said Lucy tilting his head towards the fangs.

Ash looked down with surprise. "Huh. I forgot about them... But what does that have to do with anything?"

Lucy shook his head again. "I knew you were smart, but now I know you're just slow." Before Ash could retort back, Lucy continued. "Five years ago, you decided to be a vampire for Halloween. I don't know why. They are well... interesting to say the least. But anyway..."

"Hold on... vampires are real?" Ash's eyes got really huge with surprise.

Lucy face palmed. "Focus, would you? Anyway, because of my sister's stupid curse, and okay I admit, it's partly because of Misty... even though she didn't know it then... Anyway, you along with almost the entire town were turned into their costumes."

Ash's brought his hands up like he was surrendering to the cops. "W-wow. Hold on. You're saying I turned into a real vampire five years ago!? I think I would have remembered that."

Lucy rubbed his forehead like he was getting a headache. "Would you please shut up, and keep up? That would be much appreciated."

As Ash didn't say anything but just looked super annoyed, Lucy continued.

"Now, to get to the point. Those fake fangs were a part of your costume, hence because of the curse, were a part of you. At the very least for a short while." Before Ash could say something with a shock of horror, Lucy continued. "Meaning, it still has remnants of the curse and its dark magic. I feel it. I know magic of any kind when I see it or sense it."

Lucy looked up towards the horror stricken Ash. "Hold it."

Ash's eyes gotten even bigger. "Oh hell no! There is no way in hell I'm touching that."

Lucy raised one eyebrow. "And why not? It was once a part of you."

"Exactly! It's freaking me out! And besides, what the hell do you think would happen if I touch them?"

Lucy this time successfully hid his smug smile. "Absolutely nothing. They're fake after all."

Ash narrowed his eyes at his own reflection, but didn't say anything.

Still hiding his smile, Lucy responded. "What? You don't trust yourself?"

Ash's expression never wavered. "You're not me remember? You may look like it, but you're not."

Lucy sighed. "For crying out loud, just hold them. Nothing will happen."

Not sure what to do, Ash hesitantly reached for the fangs. At first when he touched them nothing happened much to his relief. But when he firmly held it in his grasp, that's when the rush of memories flooded his mind. It was like a high speed fast forward that you sometimes see in films. Even though it lasted for a mere second, he saw a few flashes and snippets of his life that he never knew he had forgotten let alone knew he had. That one second of high speed flashbacks was enough for him to drop the fangs back into the sink, and heave his insides into the toilet.

When he got up, washed and brushed his teeth, he looked back at his reflection. Who was looking back at him with concern.

"What... the hell... was that?! Are you trying to kill me?!"

Lucy shook his head. "No. I'm trying to get you to remember..."

At that moment, Misty knocked on the bathroom door.

"Ash? You okay in there? You've been in the shower for almost an hour now."

Suddenly remembering that the water was still on, he quickly turned the water off from the shower and sink, and got up back towards the mirror, while calling back to Misty, without opening the door; definitely not wanting to leave the washroom... not just yet.

"Uh, Misty... I don't feel so good right now. I'm gonna be in here for a while."

"Oh no. Are you sick?" She sounded really worried.

Ash glanced towards the fangs and shuddered. "Yea... you could say that."

"Well, Brock wanted to take Pikachu shopping for groceries and stuff, and asked if I wanted to go with them."

"Are you?"

"Yea... if that's okay with you? I didn't know you were sick, so I agreed."

"Go. I'll be fine."

Misty hesitated for a bit before she responded. "You sure?"

"Yea, I'll live. Go buy stuff. Have fun."

There wasn't a response from the other side of the door for a few moments. But when Misty responded, Ash finally made up his mind, even though he knows that he's going to regret it, and not just physically.

"Ash... I just hope we become good friends. No matter what happens."

Ash looked back up at his reflection that gave him a smug "I told you so" look, which Ash returned with a look that clearly said "shut up."

"Thanks Misty... and well... same here."

"Awe, thanks Ash! Oh! Do you want me to get you anything?"

Ash lightly chuckled as he responding to her caring tone. "Some Tylenol would be great."

Misty chuckled in return. "Alright. I'll see you later."

Ash listened to her leaving the bathroom door, telling Brock that he's sick but he wants her to go, Brock agreeing, some shuffling, which he guessed was them putting jackets and shoes on. Another moment later, the door opened and closed with the sound of locks. He waited another moment later, just to be safe, and turned towards his reflection with a determined look.

"So... those fangs will make me remember everything... right?"

Lucy nodded. "Mhm. But there is a risk."

Ash rolled his eyes in exasperation. "You know you could have told me that, before I puked my guts up in the toilet."

Lucy returned the eye roll. "That's not it. But I'm pretty sure that's just you."

Ash narrowed his eyes. "Hilarious. But what's the risk?"

"Too much at once could awaken something that you will not be able to control, nor you would want to control. Something that you tasted before... and if I remember correctly... you really liked it. Hell, you relished in it."

Ash's eyebrows raised in question. "Oh yea? And what would that be?"

There was a long moment before Lucy responded, that rocked Ash to his core.

"Darkness."

 _Ah hell._


	6. It's Back

**Forgotten Love**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokémon! There enough said.

 **Rating:** T plus mature subject matter

 **Note:** _thoughts_

 **Ages:** Ash: 24 Misty:22 Brock:26

* * *

It took Misty, Brock and Pikachu a little over three hours to come back from shopping. With half a dozen plastic bags full of groceries and necessities, they tumbled into the apartment after Brock opened the door.

"Finally! We're back!" exasperated Misty, taking off her shows, placing the plastic bags down, and collapsed on the living room couch.

"Yea... after SOMEONE suggested visiting the supermarket, which just HAPPENED to have the entire store on sale." Complained Brock, as he took off his shoes, locked the door behind Pikachu, and brought all the bags to the kitchen area that was connected to the living room.

Misty smiled, and shrugged without turning towards Brock, who was unpacking the groceries and whatnot. "What can I say? I love to shop."

"That's an understatement." Muttered Brock, not even half way through with the grocery bags.

At that moment, Ash shuffled into the living room looking at the floor. To Misty, he looked like hell. His hair a giant mess, his skin pale, and huge bags under his eyes.

"Ash? Are you alright?" Misty stared at him in shock at the sight of him.

He didn't even bother to look at her, as he chuckled and went towards the windows. "Now, isn't that an interesting question."

Misty watched him curiously as he sat down on a loan chair and then, stared straight at her.

At that moment, a chill went over Misty as she stared back at him in disbelief. It was those eyes. Those dark, calculating, complex eyes. Those same eyes that she all so completely, surrendered herself to all those years ago.

 _No. It can't be. That's not possible. No. he's... human. He has to be. But those eyes... they're the same. How? I know Lucia is long gone. So it's not possible... Then again, I somehow came back. So then maybe..._

Ash smirked. "What's wrong Misty? Are you sick? You seem to be shaking a lot."

At that moment both Brock and Pikachu came to Misty's side, as she kept staring back at Ash.

Brock placed his hand on her shoulder. "He's right Misty. You are shaking." He brought his hand up to her forehead to check her temperature. "You don't seem to have a fever. Are you alright?"

She didn't respond, as her mind went into shock as she relived those dark memories of her past.

At that moment, Pikachu jumped on her lap, when Ash called to him.

"Pikachu."

Pikachu turned towards Ash, and instantly flinched. That was the moment that Ash knew that Pikachu realized what was going on.

Ash smiled a friendly smiled. "Come here, buddy."

Pikachu looked from Misty, who was lost in her own thoughts, and Brock who was trying to get her to answer him. He saddened, jumped off her lap, and cautiously walked right up to his owner.

"That's a good boy. Now, I want you to get rid of this."

At that moment, Misty snapped out of it as she zeroed in on the pair of fake fangs that Ash was handing over to Pikachu. She realized that those fangs were the same ones that Ash wore for Halloween five years ago. But the difference was that those fangs back then, were all white and brand new. Now they are all brown and rusted over. Like it's life has been completely sucked from its core.

Pikachu took the rusted fangs and ran out of the apartment, and out of sight through its dog door.

Ash got up and went to the kitchen. "I'm hungry. Brock, you making dinner tonight?"

Brock went back to the kitchen, completely oblivious to what's going on.

"Yea. But it's still going to be a bit."

Ash wined. "Fiiine. But how long will it take?"

Brock looked over the mess that was the kitchen full of brand new groceries.

"Give me about an hour... or two. It should be ready by then."

Ash sighed. "Alright." He stretched and yawned. "I'm going for a walk. I need some air."

As he was about to reach for the door, Misty spoke up.

"I'll go too. I could really use some air."

Ash smiled knowingly without turning around. Nor did he say anything.

Misty got up and walked up towards Ash, as Brock spoke up.

"You sure Misty? You were shaking earlier."

Misty turned to Brock. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just need to clear my head. And besides, I'm pretty sure Ash won't mind." She turned towards Ash's back. "Right, Ash?"

Ash slightly shook his head, and tried to hide the smile from his voice. "Yeah, its fine."

By the time Misty put on her shoes and jacket, Ash was already fully dressed, left the house, and walked towards the elevators.

As Misty got dressed, left the house, and tried to catch up to Ash, she knew two things. One: That wasn't Ash anymore. Or at the very least, the Ash that she met in the park. Two: Somehow, someway, Darkness returned. Or at least, the Darkness that was within Ash when he turned into a real vampire five years ago. But no matter what happens, she will save him... again. Somehow. Well, that's what she told her herself anyway.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Well, I'm back. Lol. I know it's been a looong while since I updated anything. And for that I sincerely apologize. Especially to those who waited patiently for an update. I just had some things to figure out, and on top of that I just went through something personal. So I couldn't update. I guess you can say that this mini chapter is for me to say that I'm still here, and I'm back. :) I'll try to update as often as I can. And I'll try to answer your questions in the next chapter. So please ask away, but keep the flames away. See you in the next chapter! :D


	7. Trapped

**Forgotten Love**

 **Description:** A Pokémon fanfic – Sequel to The Night Where It All Started

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokémon! There enough said.

 **Rating:** T plus mature subject matter

 **Note:** _thoughts_

 **Ages:** Ash:24 Misty:22

* * *

 **Part 7**

"Ash! Wait up!" Yelled Misty running to catch up to him.

Ash slowed down until he had to wait for the elevators. That's when Misty caught up to him.

"Jeez... what's gotten into you?"

Ash shook his head. "Don't pretend."

Misty just stared up at him. "What do you mean?"

Ash smirked. "I know you know."

At that moment, an empty elevator arrived. Ash got into it first, and then Misty right behind him. The elevator doors closed and Misty spoke up.

"Ash, I have no idea what you're talking about." _Why is he being like this?_

He practically lost his temper. "Stop pretending already! I know you know that something is different! I know you saw it back at the living room! You saw my eyes... hell, I felt it. I felt your fear, Misty."

Misty just stared at him, terrified. _So... he knew. But does that mean... that he remembered everything? Even when he and I..._

Suddenly the elevator halted to a stop. Ash pushed all the elevator emergency buttons, but nothing happened.

"Great. We're stuck."

Misty's mind was spinning. "Ash... how... how did this happen?"

He side glanced at her. "What? The elevator stopping? Blame it on crappy technology."

Misty shook her head. "That's not what I meant."

After a silent moment, Misty continued. "Do you... do you remember?"

Ash sighed and sat down on the elevator floor. "Do you want specifics? Or the whole story?"

Misty fidgeted for a moment until she too sat down, across from him.

"Tell me how you found out."

Ash just looked at her. "Found out about what? My not so forgotten past? How I turned into a monster and I loved it? Or the fact that I liked how I made you feel being this... thing. Or better yet... how I so foolishly fell in love with a girl who was gonna die anyways. Oh yea, that was smart."

He looked away from her with anguish in his eyes.

Her heart terribly hurt hearing him talk about their past like this.

"It shouldn't have been like this..." She said out loud without knowing, also looking on the floor.

Ash angrily stared at her. "Oh please, enlighten me. Tell me how things should have been. What? I shouldn't have been a monster? Or maybe I should have, cause hey, maybe I deserved it."

Misty had enough. "Would you stop it!? Why are you being such a world class jerk right now!? I know your memories returned somehow, but that doesn't mean you have to take it out on me! I didn't do anything to deserve you being like this!"

Ash laughed through the pain. "You didn't deserve it!? Misty, I loved you! I loved you before that whole Halloween crap ever happened! And when it did, and I turned into a vampire, all my emotions heightened and it got all twisted and fused into one thing. Hunger. Your blood was the one thing I yearned for. The one thing I wanted. But then you kept on getting sick. And then you died. Sort of. Anyway, you came back, only for me to later find out, that you were already dead anyways! And then the next thing I knew, you disappeared right in front of me, Misty! How do you think that made me feel!? And on top of that, I was forced to forget about you! So yea... you deserve me being a world class jerk right about now."

Misty was at a loss of words. Hearing his side of the story, and how he suddenly remembered every single moment together that they shared, hurt her more than words can describe. She didn't want to talk about their lost love, not in a situation like this. Being stuck in an elevator together. So she changed the subject, to avoid further heartache.

"Ash... how did you remember? Cause just the other day, you didn't even know who I was. I was just some random girl to you. So how?"

Ash studied her for a moment, and then let out a frustrated breath. "Remember how you came by earlier to see if I was okay in the washroom?"

"Yeah? That was a few hours ago."

Ash nodded. "Yeah. That was when Lucy came to visit me."

Misty blinked at him. "Lucy? Wait... a girl came to visit you in the washroom, just right after we left?"

Now it was Ash's turn to blink a few times. "What? You know what, never mind. I don't even want to know what's going on in your head right now."

Misty just stared at him. "Do you have girls like hidden away in your apartment or something?"

Ash was getting annoyed. "Holy crap Misty! Just stop with all that... dirty crap already! Ok... One, I am not that kind of guy. Two, Lucy, isn't a person... Honestly, I don't even know what the hell he is. And yes, Lucy is a guy. Not a girl. That's just his name... or at least the shorter version of it anyway..."

Everything in Misty's mind slowly began to click together. "No... Wait, how did you talk to this Lucy guy anyway?"

Ash studied her. "If you're gonna say that I'm crazy, I'll never talk to you again."

As Misty didn't respond, but just waited for his answer, he continued.

Ash sighed. "I talked to him through a mirror."

Misty's eyes went huge. "I knew it! It must have been Lucia! Your reflection looked like you, but it wasn't you at the same time, right?"

Ash nodded slowly. "Yeah. But his name was Lucy." After a moment Ash continued. "He did mention that he had a sister before though... which is weird enough."

Like a puzzle clicking together, Misty's thoughts came together. "Oh... my... God. Ash... you talked to Lucifer. Aka. Lucy."

Now it's Ash's turn to be surprised. "Wait. What? Like the Lucifer, from the bible? Like Hell?"

Misty nodded with a scowl. "But apparently he has a sister... who well... is a real piece of work."

Ash blinked. "Wait. He did tell me about his sister. He said that she messed up, and now he has to clean up after her or something like that."

Misty crawled closer to Ash, until she was just inches away from him. "Ash, please... remember what he told you. I need to know exactly what he said."

Misty was so close to Ash, that if she moved any closer she would kiss his cheek. Ash just stared at her for a moment, looked away, sighed a heavy sigh, got up and started to pace around the elevator.

"Ok, let's just say that you're right, and I believe you, why do you want to know so badly?"

Misty stared up at Ash, sighed and leaned against the elevator wall, hugging her knees together.

"That's what happened to me five years ago. I found a weird mirror under a tree with Pikachu. I just looked at it for a second, my reflection winked at me, and then we were blinded by bright white light. The next thing I knew, it was dark and everyone turned into their costumes."

Ash stared at her blankly, and then suddenly realization came to him.

"I remember that. Brock and I split up for a bit, to do some shopping for my mom. At some point I went back home to change into my costume. When I was in my costume, I went outside, this bright light blinded me suddenly, and somehow I was knocked out. When I woke up, it was dark, but at the same time it was like daylight to me. I can see things so easily. But that was when..."

As Misty watched Ash, she could see that whatever he was thinking of, sickened him so much that it was visible on his face.

 _What could make him react like that?_ Then she suddenly remembered something.

"Oh no. Ash did you..."

He side glanced at her. "What? Kill someone?"

Misty didn't dare to say anything.

He sighed. "No. You can relax. I didn't kill that girl. Well, I almost did anyway. She was hurt badly from a bicycle accident. I just... couldn't help it. But then when I realized what I was doing, I could suddenly hear how her heartbeat was seriously starting to slow. That's when I freaked out, and ran back home."

"And that's when we met." Misty said watching his reaction.

He smiled sadly. "Yea. That's when you met a vampire."

Misty scoffed. "Yea, a vampire who was very keen on getting to my neck."

Ash laughed. "Well what can I say? I was hungry."

Misty watched him closely as he sat back on the floor. His eyes were a perfect mix of his old familiar light brown and that dangerous black. Whatever was going on with him, he had it under control. At least she hoped.

"Ash, how are you feeling?"

He looked straight at her for a second, and then looked away. "I don't know. Since I got my memories back, it's like I'm fighting the urge to just... break something. I'm angry all the time now. I hate it."

"But, you never told me how you got your memories back."

"When I was in the washroom, and you guys left, Lucy told me to use that pair of fangs that Pikachu gave me earlier, to bring back my memories. All I had to do was hold them tightly. And when I did, I got these high speed flashbacks in my mind. And it was like I was zooming through a life that I never knew I had. I saw everything. Or at least everything that I had to forget. From the time when we first met, all of our adventures, even that goodbye we had when you had to go take care of that gym. Even that time when we reunited with Brock, and hung out for a while together. But not too long after that..."

"Was that Halloween night." Misty finished for him.

He nodded. "Yeah... Thing is... I remembered everything that happened when I was a vampire." He looked at her as he said that, just in time to see her reaction.

At that, Misty blushed hard. _Oh no. Crap. Crap crap crap crap. Why did he have to remember that!? Not like this... oh no..._

She couldn't look at him. "Wh... what else did you remember?"

Ash smiled sadly at her. "I also remembered the last time you got sick. You... had a heart attack. You collapsed, and I can feel your heart beating a mile a minute... I was never so scared in my life before." He looked at her and waited for her to finally look at him.

When she finally did look at him, she could see that his eyes were almost fully his own. Only a hint of darkness remained.

"Misty... that was the moment I realized that I couldn't lose you. That I couldn't live without you... Or in this case, un-live."

At that last comment, Misty scoffed a laugh. Suddenly her laugh turned into sadness.

"Ash... you should know that every time I passed out from being sick, especially that last time, I saw Lucia."

Ash's eyes widened. "Wait you mean, Lucy's sister?"

Misty shook her head. "Can we just call him Lucifer?"

Ash shook his head. "I'm pretty sure he wants to be called Lucy."

Misty shrugged. "Alright. But yea, when I saw Lucia, she looked like me, but she was a total..."

Ash knitted his eyebrows together. "She was an evil b?"

Misty laughed. "Yeah, you could say that. But yea when I woke up, I figured out how to end it, once and for all... but the price for that was..."

Ash looked away. "Death. You had to die to save us."

Misty also looked away. "Yea. But, I got a grace period before..."

"You disappeared from my life and took everything with you."

Misty just looked at him, then he finally chuckled in a strained voice.

"No wonder I couldn't sleep that night."

Misty knotted her eyebrows together. "What do you mean?"

He looked away. "I knew something was wrong, but I couldn't tell what. And that weird locket necklace thing I had didn't help at all." He looked at her again. "You know what that was. DON'T lie to me Misty. Not now."

Misty just stared at Ash. But after a while she sighed and told him what happened that night when she defeated Lucia.

"That night, I took Pikachu and we went back to the forest where we first found that stupid mirror. But the second we got there, a thick fog surrounded us and Tracy appeared out of nowhere."

Ash raised his eyebrows. "Tracy? What the hell was he doing there?"

Misty looked at the elevator floor. "At that point everyone was still living as creatures from their costumes. Except for him. He was normal. He said that a very beautiful girl, that looked a lot like me, saved his life. He said that he knew it wasn't me because she had a darker aura then me."

Ash studied her closely. "So what happened?"

Misty gripped her hands into tight fists, and Ash took notice of every little thing she did.

"Then _she_ came."

Ash looked at her questioningly. "She?" It only took him a minute to realize who she was talking about. It was his turn to form fists. "Lucia."

Misty nodded. "The second she came, she went straight for Tracey. Tracey was being all thankful towards her that... she... she kissed him. Passionately."

It may have been five years for Ash, but that night was still fresh in Misty's mind. Even after all this time, even thinking about Lucia kissing Tracey made her sick to her stomach. She couldn't even look at Ash.

"Go on."

She could practically hear the anger in his voice, but she still didn't look at him.

"Well after that, words were said, I found out who Lucia really was, and what she wanted. But it was obvious that Tracey was in love with her, even though he pretty much loved being on her side."

Ash scoffed. "Tsk. I never really liked that guy anyway. Hell, I prefer Brock over him to be honest." He looked at her and knew there was more to the story. "So? Go on. What happened?"

"Soon after that, the whole town appeared. Yea they were all in their costumes, but their eyes were completely dead, empty. It was like they were dark zombie-like versions of their costumes."

Ash looked straight at her, fearing the worst. "Was my mom there?"

Misty couldn't say anything, but she nodded.

Ash swore out loud, but after about a minute he calmed down. "I should've been there sooner."

Finally she looked up at him. "What do you mean?"

He looked at her for a moment, like he was deciding what to say. "Well, not long after you left, the three of us decided that we should help you out. That you shouldn't go through that alone. But of course Gary and Brock didn't let me. Brock said that the second that we step outside we'll be taken over."

Misty was confused. "Wait. So he knew what was really going on?"

Ash shook his head. "I wouldn't say that. It more like his intuition was on over drive. But it wasn't just him. Gary felt that power too. But then I came up with a great idea of Gary doing some sort of cloaking spell on all three of us so we wouldn't be caught in whatever the hell was happening to the town."

Misty looked at him in surprise. "You thought of that on your own?"

Ash narrowed his eyes at her. "You do realize that I'm not a COMPLETE idiot right?"

Misty unsuccessfully covered her laugh with a cough. "Well you do have your moments."

Ash's expression never changed. "Go on. What happened?"

Misty looked away again. "That was when Tracey turned back into a werewolf, and he was right behind me too. So there we were, surrounded by zombie like supernatural creatures, an undead werewolf right behind me, and Lucia holding that stupid mirror that started this whole thing. I guess I was scared and desperate to get out alive. So I looked at Pikachu, he nodded, and I guess you can say that we were thinking as one. So I yelled out to Pikachu to use Volt Tackle towards Lucia. But the second I yelled it out, Pikachu was already covered in lightning. He ran like the speed of light towards Lucia. The next thing I knew there was this huge lightning crash, and I guess it knocked me out."

"And that's when I came in."

Misty looked at him in surprise. "You were there?"

"I did mention before that I couldn't let you do everything alone right?"

Misty nodded but didn't say anything.

Ash continued. "Thing is, when I saw you laying on the ground unconscious... I was scared out of my mind. I thought you were dead... I guess I wasn't completely wrong."

Misty ignored that last bit. She really didn't want to get into another fight with him. "So how did you find that locket?"

"Gary gave it to me. He said it was next to Pikachu who was also unconscious. He said that it wasn't form Earth."

Misty nodded. "I figured that the mirror that Lucia had, somehow turned into the locket. I guess it was somehow programmed to make you remember everything, among other things."

Ash looked at Misty. "Well at least it kinda worked."

"And you kept it?!"

Ash gave her a dangerous look. "Well yea I did for a little bit... until it disappeared. Why? You're saying that I shouldn't have kept it?"

Misty was really getting frustrated as she got up and looked down at Ash in anger. "I told you to throw it away! If you just did that, before you opened it, then none of this would have happened!"

At that moment Ash had enough. He quickly got up and pinned Misty to the elevator wall, so quickly she didn't have time to react.

"Do NOT yell at me Misty. And besides, how could I have remembered that, when it was YOUR entire fault that all of this happened in the first place? You did disappear and took all my memories with you, and the locket, after all."

Misty couldn't respond as she was completely in shock. But when she looked up into his eyes, it was clear that darkness completely over took him.

"And besides, you like it rough. Don't you? Well, I remember you do."

At that, Ash lowered his head towards Misty and kissed her hard, but passionately. If she could, she would have push him off. She didn't want it turn out like this. Not trapped in an elevator of all places. But no matter how hard she tried to push him off, he was just too strong.

He broke the kiss and laughed a little, in a husky sinister voice.

"What's wrong? I thought you liked it like this."

Misty almost broke into tears. "No I don't Ash. Not like this."

Ash smiled in a haunting way. "Oh, I remember how you liked it."

Just like that, he pinned her down tightly and started kissing her neck.

Misty's emotions were all over the place. She hated herself for being excited about this, not that it didn't feel good, which it did. But, she knew that this was wrong. Especially when he wasn't himself... no matter how much she loved him.

"Ash... stop."

He didn't slow down one bit.

"Ash... stop... STOP IT!"

At the same time the elevator shook, as it started to move really fast, making Ash fall backwards in surprise.

"What the hell!?"

Misty was in panic mode. "What's going on!? What's happening?!"

They both looked up above the elevator door, to where it read the floor numbers. They noticed that they were going up really fast.

"Ash! What is happening!?"

"We're going to the top Misty! This isn't good!"

It only took a minute for them to reach the very top floor of the apartment building. When they both looked up, they noticed that they were on the 50th floor. The elevator suddenly rocketed to a stop. The next thing they knew, it felt like something snapped. The lights flickered and they were falling through space.

"AAAAASSSH!"

"MIIIIISTYYYY!"

* * *

Author's Note:

Hey everyone! Before you guys start hating on me about that... I just wanted to apologize from the bottom of my heart, to leave you guys hanging like that without an update for a looong time... Let's just say that adult life is not agreeing with me. So I figured I needed a good break from all of that and come back here. I promise you guys that this isn't the end. At least not just yet. ;)


	8. Heartbreak

**Forgotten Love**

 **Description:** A Pokémon fanfic – Sequel to The Night Where It All Started

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokémon! There enough said.

 **Rating:** T plus mature subject matter

 **Note:** _thoughts_

 **Ages:** Ash: 24 Misty:22

* * *

 **Part 8**

It only took a minute for them to reach the top floor of the apartment building. When they both looked up, they noticed that they were on the 50th floor. The elevator suddenly rocketed to a stop. The next thing they knew, it felt like something snapped. The lights flickered and they were falling through space.

"AAAAASSSH!"

"MIIIIISTYYYY!"

 _Damn it! I need to think of something, and fast!_ Ash thought as he and Misty were floating in the elevator. He quickly looked at Misty and saw her cry from fear.

 _UGH! C'mon think!_

It only took him a second to realize that he still had his Pokémon.

 _OH I KNOW!_ "Misty! Grab my hand!"

As Misty stretched out her hand, he grabbed her, and pulled her behind him. At that moment, he brought out one of his most trusted friends.

"CHARIZARD! GET US OUT OF HERE! NOW!"

As Charizard appeared, he used its Flamethrower to burn a hole through the roof of the elevator. Ash turned back towards Misty, while getting on the back of his Charizard.

"Misty! Grab my arm!"

As she grabbed his arm, he pulled her behind him. That was when Misty held on tightly to him, as she sat on Charizard. He would be lying if he said he didn't like that.

"GO CHARIZARD! NOW!"

His trusted Pokémon climbed out of the hole in the elevator, spread its wings, and took off. Ash looked back all the way down, to see the elevator explode as it hit the ground. He realized if they stayed there a second longer, that would have been them.

 _Damn. That was too close._ He looked behind him to see Misty squeezing her eyes closed, and hugging him tightly. _Heh. She's so cute._ "Mist, it's ok. We're safe."

She shook her head. "No we're not."

"Uh, Misty. We're on Charizard. We're safe."

She shook her head again, while she still kept her eyes close.

"That's exactly my point! I hate flying!"

Ash laughed out loud, while Charizard got annoyed at Misty. With a sneaky smirk, Charizard flapped his wings, and they rose to the top of the elevator shaft. All while Misty yelled. Once they reached the very top, covered in glass, Charizard used its Flamethrower one more time to break through the building, and out to the great outdoors.

"Woah! Charizard, nice going!" Ash exclaimed.

At that moment Misty squeezed Ash so tightly that he could barely breathe. He looked towards Misty and he smiled at her. _She is something else_. His eyes lightened and the darkness almost completely disappeared from them. They were quickly filled with love. _Don't worry Misty, I won't hurt you. Not anymore._ He squeezed her hands that were wrapped around him. _That I promise._

He turned back towards Charizard. "Hey Charizard, bring us to the lake."

Charizard nodded and descended towards a nearby lake. As they landed, Ash spoke up.

"Hey Mist. Open your eyes. We're on land."

Misty slowly opened her eyes, to see a very beautiful sight before her. The orange and yellow of the sunset reflected on a lake. Nearby Krabby blowing bubbles in the air. The colors reflected in the lake, were caught in the bubbles. The color filled bubbles danced on the water, and in the air around them.

"Ash... this is beautiful." She said, still on Charizard.

Ash smiled at her. "Heh. Yea." _Not as beautiful as you._ He couldn't bring himself to say that out loud.

That moment Charizard bucked Misty off. Ash quick on his feet, he caught her in his arms, bridal style. They just stared at each other, both blushing hard. After for what seemed like forever, Misty spoke up.

"A-Ash. Y-you can let me go now." She looked at Charizard. "I think you should put Charizard away."

Ash looked at Charizard, who seemed a little annoyed at him for some reason, to Misty. Still blushing like a tomato.

"R-right." As he set Misty down on the ground, he turned towards his Pokémon, until he had an idea.

He looked at Misty. "Hey, Mist. I think you should thank Charizard, for saving our lives."

Misty looked at Charizard who just stared back at her. "Th-thank you."

Ash grimaced. "C'mon. You can do better than that." He grabbed her arm and pushed her towards his fiery friend.

As Misty stood right in front of Charizard, Charizard just stared between her and his idiot trainer.

"Th-thank you Charizard. For saving us."

Charizard stared at her for a second, and then he stared at Ash, who was giggling behind Misty. He knew that Misty was a little scared of Charizard. While Charizard knew that Ash loved Misty, but he didn't have the nerve to say it out loud.

Misty turned around towards Ash. "There. You happy?"

Ash blankly stared at Charizard, and then looked back at Misty. _Well... that was kinda disappointing. Kinda hoped she would freak out more._ "Yea. I guess. So what do you want to do?"

Misty looked away. "Ash... about earlier."

Ash just stared at her. "What? You holding on to me like crazy?" He laughed. "Yea, that was hilarious."

Misty was getting annoyed. "I was scared! You know I hate flying! And besides, that's kinda why I'm scared of Charizard." She turned towards Charizard. "No offence, Charizard."

Charizard just shrugged. She turned quickly towards Ash. "You even knew that!"

 _Jeez she can't take a joke._ "C'mon Mist. Lighten up!" He looked around. "Look, we're safe! And we're on a beach. At a lake." He smiled at her, knowing how much she loved water.

"Yea... I guess."

Unknown to them, Charizard slowly crept behind Misty. Suddenly, he pushed Misty as she landed on Ash, making them fall to the ground, Misty on top.

Quickly as it happened, both embarrassed, they separated and quickly sat beside each other, while apologizing to one another. Ash quickly turned to Charizard, still embarrassed.

"Charizard! What the heck!?"

Before Ash could send his friend back, Charizard blew some smoke towards Ash, and flew away to a nearby cliff. There, he sat and watched the two love birds, with a big smile, proud of himself.

Misty looked towards Charizard, but spoke to Ash. "Did Charizard just..."

Ash shook his head. "Yup." _Who needs a wing-man when I have Charizard? Geez._

After a moment, they both looked at each other and laughed. _Man, I guess somethings never change._

After the laughter died down, an awkward silence hung in the air for a while. They sat closely beside each other, until Misty spoke up.

"Ash... about earlier... in the elevator..." She looked down on the sand. Ash looked at her, and then he looked away, towards the sand.

"You don't have to say anything. I'm the one who should apologize."

Misty looked at him in surprise. "No. I had no right to yell at you. What you do, what you decide, is up to you. It's your life... you get to decide what you want to do with it."

Ash shook his head, without looking at her. "Yea, but I shouldn't have treated you like that." He lifted his hands, so he could look at them. "Ever since I got my memories back... my anger gets out of control easily. I didn't want to do that to you, Misty. But I just..."

Misty grabbed both of his hands. "Ash... don't do that. Don't hurt yourself over something you have no control over." She squeezed his hands. "And besides... I forgive you."

Ash looked up at her, to see her so close. They were inches apart. As he stared into her blue eyes, certain warmth spread from his heart, to every part of him. He couldn't look away.

 _Is this... what it feels like? To be in..._

He quickly looked away from her, and stood up. _No. I can't. I don't really know what's wrong with me. And I just can't risk hurting her. Not again._

"I'm sorry Misty. But I can't." He said, without looking at her.

On a nearby cliff, Charizard huffed in annoyance.

Misty looked away and smiled a sad smile. "I get it, Ash. Believe me I do."

He then looked down at her, as she got up from the sand and slowly walked towards the water's edge. After a moment, Ash walked up, and stood beside her, inches apart.

"Ash... when I was gone... I've... seen things. Things you couldn't imagine. You have no idea how scared I was. Not only scared of well, getting caught and dying but..." She looked at him. "I was scared that I wasn't going to see you anymore."

Caught off guard, he looked at her. "Misty... when I found your mallet, outside that Pokémon Center, I knew deep down... that something was missing. I couldn't explain it. It felt like a huge piece of me was missing. But when I regained my memories... I cried."

Misty looked at him in surprise but couldn't say anything.

He looked at her and smiled sadly. "I cried, Misty. I wasn't sad. It was like, after all this time, my whole life finally made sense. All those years of searching, and then suddenly out of nowhere all my answers came at once. I guess you could say that I was overwhelmed." He looked away from her to the lake, and lowered his head, as shadows from his bangs covered his eyes.

"But... Misty, I wasn't happy. I knew that nothing can happen... especially from all of that crap I put you through back then." He tightened his fists, and turned away from her. "It would be better if we just remain friends. You will find someone else Misty... Someone better... Someone you deserve."

He turned back around, and placed a key in her hand, as he couldn't look at her. Shadows still covering his eyes. "That's the key to the apartment. Tell Brock I'll be gone for a while." He turned away from her, as tears leaked from his eyes. _I have to do this, until I can get a grip on what's wrong with me. This is for the best._

He looked towards Charizard, who got up and flew towards him with sadness in his eyes, landing right beside him.

"Take care, Mist."

Misty tried to run towards him, but shock filled her whole body. She couldn't move.

Before she even tried to say anything, Ash and Charizard flew away.

"Ash! Don't do this!... I love you!" She yelled towards the sky, tears falling to the ground.

Unfortunately all Ash heard was "Ash! Don't do this!" Tears flowing, he ordered Charizard to fly faster, as he couldn't hear the three words that would have changed his mind right there and then.

 _I always loved you, Misty._

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

I just want to give a quick shout out to **Tropicallight** , **SpencerDorman** , **LaughingMangoes** , **Mrs. Nose** , and **Nami** for your reviews! And everyone else for your support! You guys always make my day, and I wouldn't get this far without all of you, especially since this series is quickly coming to a close. Just a couple more chapters and it's done. But until then, see ya guys next time!


	9. Sorrow (9A)

**Forgotten Love**

 **Description:** A Pokémon fanfic – Sequel to The Night Where It All Started

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokémon! There enough said.

 **Rating:** T plus mature subject matter

 **Note:** _thoughts_

 **Ages:** Ash: 24 Misty:22

* * *

 **Part 9 (A)**

Misty slowly headed towards Brock's apartment, head hanging low, broken in tears. Standing in the middle of a field, hours after Ash left. Looking around, she noticed that it was the same field that she was brought back in.

She shook her head, as tears flew from her cheeks. _Go figure._

She stopped walking as she thought back to what happened back on the beach. With that beautiful sunset and all those colorful bubbles dancing in the air. Only one could think that something wonderful would happen. Only luck had it, that it turned out to be utter heartbreak.

She kicked a random rock on the ground in frustration, still full of tears. _Ugh! What was he thinking!? How could he leave me like this!? Does he even care!?_

She looked up into the night sky, full of bright luminous stars. _Ash... why?_ As she looked on towards the sky she let the tears just flow from her eyes. After a while just standing there, an idea popped into her mind. _Wait a minute... could it possibly be because of Lucy?_ _What did Ash say about him?_ She shook her head in frustration. _C'mon girl, think! What did Ash say about Lucy?_

She closed her eyes, as she let her mind think back to when they were stuck in that elevator.

 _Ash blinked. "Wait. He did tell me about his sister. He said that she messed up, and now he has to clean up after her or something like that."_

 _She was so close to Ash, she was just inches from him. "Ash, please... remember what he told you. I need to know exactly what he said."_

 _Misty was so close to Ash, that if she moved any closer she would kiss his cheek. Ash just stared at her for a moment, looked away, sighed a heavy sigh, got up and started to pace around the elevator._

" _Ok, let's just say that you're right, and I believe you, why do you want to know so badly?"_

Misty opened her eyes. _Why was he so defensive? Was he... hiding something from me?_

She shook her head. _No. There has to be more to that. Think. What else did he say?_

 _Ash looked straight at her for a second, and then looked away. "I don't know. Since I got my memories back, it's like I'm fighting the urge to just... break something. I'm angry all the time now. I hate it."_

She slightly opened her eyes as she remembered how Ash looked at that moment. He looked like he was struggling with something... even his eyes looked dark. _He must have been holding something back. He just had to..._ _Wait a minute... what did he say about his memories?_ She closed her eyes once more and let that memory flow through her.

 _Ash looked away with a far off look. "When I was in the washroom, and you guys left, Lucy told me to use the pair of fangs that Pikachu gave me earlier, to bring back my memories. All I had to do was hold them tightly. And when I did, I got these high speed flashbacks in my mind. And it was like I was zooming through a life that I never knew I had. I saw everything. Or at least everything that I had to forget..."_

She opened her eyes quickly. _Could that be it? Those fangs?_ She shook her head. _No. That can't be it. Those fangs that Pikachu threw out were all rusted away, like it had been sucked dry._ She mentally slapped herself from that pun. _Nice._

At that moment, someone called out to her.

"Misty!"

She looked up to see Brock running to her with a worried Pikachu, right on his heels.

"Brock?"

As they approached her, she saw that they were not only worried, but also out of breath.

"Misty... thank god." Brock breathed resting on his knees.

"Brock? What's wrong?"

As he stood up and caught his breath, he paused when he properly looked at her.

"I should be asking you that." He walked closer to her. "Misty... what happened?"

Misty just looked at him. "What do you mean?"

His eyes saddened. "You were crying."

She quickly looked away and dried her eyes with her hands. When she was done, she looked back towards Brock and changed the subject.

"Brock... What happened? Something did happen, didn't it? You wouldn't run all the way out here if it didn't."

Brock looked at her for a second, and then sighed. "Yea. Something did happen. There was an accident in my building. An elevator crashed. The security said that there were two people stuck inside. But when the power in that elevator went out, they lost footage in the camera. But when the cops checked it out, they couldn't find any remains. And I knew you and Ash were heading out. I also knew that there would be no way Ash would take the stairs. That accident happened not long after you guys left."

Misty stared at him. She almost completely forgot about that, especially after everything that happened. "What are you doing here then?"

"Well when they mentioned who was in that elevator... I almost had a heart attack."

Misty asked him, cautiously. "What did they say?"

"They said a tall dark haired man, and a red-headed woman was with him."

Misty didn't say anything.

Brock shook his head. "How did you guys get out anyway?"

Misty sighed. "He used his Charizard."

Brock seemed surprised. "Huh. I'm impressed that he even remembered he had his Pokemon."

Misty smiled. "Well you know Ash... he can get out of sticky situations. Being the Champion and all."

Brock smiled at her, and then looked around. "Speaking off... where is he?"

Misty looked down, trying hard to hold back the tears. "He's... gone."

Brock sharply looked at her. "What do you mean he's gone? He's alive... right?"

Misty nodded. "Yes... he's alive..."

Misty checked in her pockets and pulled out the key Ash gave her. She gave it to Brock.

"He said that he'll be gone for a while." She gripped her hands into fists. "It sounded like he was saying goodbye."

Brock sighed. Misty looked up and saw that he was giving her the key back. "I don't know what's going on here exactly. But, I feel like he was giving this key to you, not to me."

Misty looked at the key, to Brock. "Are you sure? I mean I don't want to bother you at all."

He smiled at her and shrugged. "I'm used to having a roommate. So why not?"

Misty smiled at him and took the key. Then she looked down at Pikachu, who looked heartbroken.

"Pikachu..."

Misty bent down and picked up Pikachu in her arms.

"Pikachu... I'm so sorry. He shouldn't have left you behind... But know that he loves you no matter what."

At that moment, Pikachu broke down in tears and hugged Misty back.

"You know... Pikachu seems very close to you. I think it'll be good for him if he had someone like that around. If it was just me and him, he probably would never have recovered."

Misty hugged Pikachu closely. "Brock... can we go home?"

Brock nodded. "Yea. If you don't mind climbing a whole lot of stairs, since the elevators aren't working right now."

Misty smiled. "I don't mind. At least it's better than being out here."

Brock nodded. "C'mon. We got a whole lot of climbing ahead of us."

* * *

A handful of hours later, the three of them stumbled into Brock's apartment, completely wiped out.

"Never... again." Misty cried out falling onto their apartment floor.

She looked at Pikachu who was sprawled out on the floor with his tongue sticking out, breathing heavily.

Brock closed the door behind them, and then he collapsed against the door.

"Geez... There goes the workout for the week."

Misty looked at him and laughed. "You can say that again."

They sat there for a while, until Pikachu got up and went towards the kitchen. That was when Brock spoke up.

"Why did he leave, Misty?"

Misty looked at him a little surprised. "Who? Pikachu?"

Brock gave her a look that clearly meant that wasn't what he was talking about. "Oh." She looked away. "Ash."

"Did you guys get into a fight or something?"

She still looked down. "Well... when we were stuck in the elevator... we did get into a fight. But after we escaped, we ended up at a nearby lake. Everything seemed fine. But... I must have said something to him. I did try to apologize but he just... I don't know. He seemed mad at me. He just up and left on Charizard. It was so sudden."

She looked at Brock, who had his thinking pose on. "It sounds like whatever happened in the elevator got to him. There is definitely something on his mind. Knowing him, he probably left to figure it out on his own."

"You think so?"

Brock nodded. "Definitely." He looked at her and smiled. "Don't worry. As long as he has his Pokémon with him, then he should be fine. He is the Champion after all."

Misty nodded. "Yea. I guess you're right."

Brock slowly got up. "You know, as long as you're staying here, you might as well use Ash's room, since he's not gonna use it anyway."

Misty smiled at him thankfully. "Thanks Brock."

He shrugged. "Don't mention it. And besides, it's what he would have wanted."

Misty smiled but didn't say anything.

"Although..."

Misty looked at him questioningly. "Hm?"

"You have to pay half the rent."

Misty almost fell over in disbelief. "What?! You're kidding me right?"

He smiled at her playfully. "Well of course. Ash had to pay as well. And since he's not here, you have to pay now."

She looked at him in disbelief. _He's not serious is he? I don't even have an ID! How the heck am I supposed to get a job!?_

"Brock... I don't have any documents or anything... I... lost everything." _What else am I supposed to say?_

Brock shook his head and sighed. "Fine. How about this. I'll help you get everything you need, but you look for a job yourself. Alright?"

Misty got up and practically hugged him. "Thank you Brock!"

Brock smiled awkwardly. "Yea. You're welcome."

At that moment the home phone rang.

"I'll get it." Said Brock as he went for the phone.

It didn't take long for Misty's mood to completely change.

"Ash!? What happened? Where are you?"

Misty couldn't look towards Brock any faster.

"Wait... what? Slow down."

 _Is he in trouble?_

Brock suddenly looked at her. "Yea. She's here."

A moment later he held out the phone to her. "He wants to talk to you."

Misty hesitated for a moment, took a deep breath, and took the phone.

"Ash?"

"Misty! Man, I'm glad things worked out with you and Brock. Look-"

"Yea. It worked out." Misty thought about Pikachu. That thought alone made her angry. "Oh and by the way... you left Pikachu behind. Did you even think about him at all? Do you even know how he felt, when he found out that you just left him like that? He was heartbroken!" She was on the verge of tears. "How could you!"

There was a moment of silence from Ash's end. Until he responded in a saddened tone.

"I'm so sorry. I... wasn't thinking straight."

Misty scoffed in exasperation. "Yeah, I'd say."

"Listen. There was a reason why I left. I just... didn't want you or Pikachu to get hurt."

"Hurt? Hurt from what?"

"Misty... remember when we talked about Lucy and all that drama in the elevator? Oh yea. By the way, what happened to that anyway?"

"The elevator? There is an investigation going on. They know that we went in cause of the cameras, but they can't figure out how we left, or how it all even happened."

"Huh. Well you could have said we got out cause of Charizard."

Misty shook her head. "Ash... you wanted to tell me something about Lucy?"

"Oh. Right. Well... when I said that I'll be gone for a while... well, I meant it."

Misty tried hard not to cry. "Ash... what's going on?"

"Misty... the world is in trouble. There are places all over the world where weird cracks in space appear and these... creatures keep coming out. Lucy needs me to close all of them. And... I don't know how long it'll take me."

"What are you saying Ash?" She started to panic.

"Misty... I... I'll be gone for a few years. At least a few years the most."

Misty couldn't say anything as her heart was breaking all over again.

"Mist? You there?"

Her hand was shaking. "Y-yeah."

"Misty... I'm so sorry. Especially the way I left things. I just had to. I can't tell you everything. But that's all I can say."

"Ash... I..." A tear fell from her cheek.

"I know what you're gonna say... You're gonna miss me when I'm gone." He sang that last bit.

Misty chuckled. "You're such a dork."

Ash pretended to be shocked. "What? I'm a dork? I think you have that confused with someone else. Oh I know! You!" He laughed.

Misty scowled. "I'm not a dork."

Ash scoffed. "Oh you totally are. And a water dork at that."

Misty was getting annoyed. "Water dork? Look who's talking! You can't even control Charizard properly even after all this time!"

"I totally can!"

Misty shook her head. "No you can't, Ash."

"Yes I can!"

"No you can't."

"Yes!"

"No!"

"YES!"

"NO!"

They laughed out loud after a split second. But after a moment, silence was growing between them filled with sadness.

"Ash... I... I love you."

After a moment, Ash responded. "Misty... this might be my only chance to say this for a long time but... I love you too."

A single teardrop fell from her eyes.

"Ash... please don't do this. Please don't leave."

"I have to Mist... There is no one else that could do this."

"But you're not the only powerful trainer in the world, Ash! Let someone else do it!"

Ash sighed. "No one else can. I have to."

"But why!?" She started to cry again.

"It's... complicated."

On the other end, it sounded like someone was calling him. "Look Misty, I have to go."

"Alright."

After a moment Ash continued. "Mist?"

"Yes?"

"Will you wait for me?"

Her heart skipped a beat. She nodded. "No matter how long it takes. I'll wait."

You could hear his smile through his voice. "That's good to hear. And well, Pikachu is yours now. Well, until I get back. Wish Brock well for me. And if anyone asks about me, just tell them that I went on an important mission. And you won't know when I'll be back."

Misty nodded. "Right. Ok."

There was now panic filled shouting on Ash's end. "Crap. Misty, I gotta go. Love you. Stay safe." He hung up.

"Love you too, Ash." She put the phone back.

"He's not coming back any time soon... is he?" asked Brock.

Misty shook her head, but didn't say anything.

Brock sighed. "Well... I guess there is nothing to do now other than to move on. But Misty..."

She looked up at him.

"If you need me, I'll be here for you. It's what he would have wanted anyway."

Misty was practically crying now. "Thanks Brock."

Brock smiled. "Well you should get cleaned up. I'll make dinner. You could wear Ash's clothes for now. But we'll go shopping later if you want."

She smiled. "Thanks."

She headed towards her new bedroom, and rummaged through the previous owner's closet. _Just don't think about it... If I don't think about it, I won't cry. I have to be strong, not only for him. But for myself. I just have to._

She took a baggy pair of sweats and a sweater, and went straight to the bathroom. Little did she know that she'll come face to face with destiny, once again.


	10. Answers (9B)

**Forgotten Love**

 **Description:** A Pokémon fanfic – Sequel to The Night Where It All Started

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokémon! There enough said.

 **Rating:** T plus mature subject matter

 **Note:** _thoughts_

 **Ages:** Misty:22 Brock:26

* * *

 **Part 9 (B)**

Misty walks into the bathroom, baggy clothes in hand. She closes the door and starts up the shower water, knowing that it'll take a few minutes for the water to warm up. She was about to undress when she heard a voice that almost made her jump out of her skin.

"Misty."

She froze. _No way... Ash?_ She shook her head. _No. That's not possible. He is god knows where._ She shook her head once more. _Get a grip. He's not coming back anytime soon. So stop imagining things._

She took off her jean jacket and shorts. Misty was only in her crop top and underwear when she heard the voice again.

"Misty."

This time, she was in full panic mode. _Okay. Now I know I wasn't just imagining it._ She quickly looked around her surroundings, when a thought came to her. _This seems familiar somehow. It's just like when..._ Realization suddenly hit her like a ton of bricks. She slightly glanced towards the bathroom mirror above the sink. _Oh no. No way... It can't be. Can it?_

She took a towel and wrapped it around herself. She wasn't fully naked, but she didn't really want to talk to whoever the hell it was in the mirror, with just a crop top and underwear.

She slowly walked towards the mirror, when she saw a spitting image of Ash within the mirror.

"Ash?"

The Ash reflection shook his head. "Nope. Try again."

She looked him over and noticed that he was wearing a black shirt, his dark hair as black as night. It was his eyes that she knew, that wasn't her best friend at all. His brown eyes were so dark that they were practically black, with a dark aura hanging around him.

She narrowed her eyes. "Lucy."

He smiled a sly smile. "Ah, I see Ash has told you about me."

Her eyes were still narrowed. "Why do you look like him?"

Lucy shrugged but kept his sly smile. "Reasons."

Misty shook her head. She was not in the mood for this at all. "Why are you even here? I thought you were busy. Cleaning up your stupid sister's mess and all."

That smile of Lucy's never faded. "Oh, I am. I just wanted to see how my favorite human is doing."

Misty raised an eyebrow. "Favorite human?" She scoffed. "And here I thought Ash was your favorite since you look like him."

Lucy laughed. "Well, we do have our similarities, but I wouldn't call him my favorite." He tilted his head to the side and gave Misty a seductive smile. "Anyone who can defeat someone as powerful as my sister, gets bonus points with me."

At that Misty blushed. Hard. She knew that wasn't Ash, but that look he just gave her, and the recent phone call still fresh in her mind, all melded together. In her mind's eye, it was like Ash just gave her that sexy smile.

She shook her head to snap her out of it, and to get rid of her blush. "What do you want Lucy?" She looked at him straight in the eye, her blush gone. "I doubt that this is a social call. What do you want?"

Lucy giggled at Misty's quick recovery, but then he sighed. "Well, you're almost right. I came here to tie up loose ends. In a way."

Misty just stared at him. "Like?"

He stared right back at her. "Well let's start from the beginning. Well, at least when you disappeared about, let's see, five years ago?"

Misty blinked. Horrible memories filled her mind of that place. She felt herself starting to shake, as those memories started to fill her mind. She gripped her hands into fists, steadying herself. "What about it?"

Lucy narrowed his eyes at her. "You do realize that wasn't really hell, right? And that you were actually alive and not dead at all?"

Misty's eyes rounded in surprise. "What? I was still alive? I thought I died when I stepped into the light... I... don't understand."

Lucy sighed. "That's my sister for you. She'll always find a way to mess with her victim. One way or another."

Misty furrowed her eyebrows at him. "What are you talking about?"

Lucy sighed and rubbed the back of his head. "Oh boy, this is going to take a while." He looked straight at her, completely serious. "Look, what you learn from me, cannot be repeated to anyone else. Especially Ash. He already has too much to deal with."

At that moment a knock came at the washroom door.

"Hey Misty, you alright? You've been in there for a while. Your dinner is getting cold." Said Brock, with worry in his voice.

Misty looked from the door, to the mirror. Lucy gave her a look, which clearly meant that he wasn't finished talking. He looked more annoyed then pissed.

 _Well he is the devil after all... might be best to hear him out, and not get on his bad side._

Suddenly Misty coughed and groaned, pretending to be sick.

"Brock... I'm not feeling so good. I think I'm coming down with something."

"Really? Like the flu? Or is it a fever?" He sounded really worried.

"I think it's the flu. I'm going to be here for a while. Do you mind getting me something from the drug store?"

"Sure. Remember what I said? I'm here if you need me."

Misty smiled. "Thanks Brock." She suddenly thought of something. "Can you take Pikachu with you? I'm sure he can use the walk and fresh air."

"Sure. Just call me if you need anything."

She smiled again. "Thanks again, Brock."

"No problem."

She listened for a few more minutes until she was absolutely sure that both Pikachu and Brock were gone. She went to the shower water and turned it off. After, she put on her jean jacket and shorts back on. Then she looked at Lucy in the mirror.

"I'll be right back."

She quickly left the bathroom just to check if they were really gone. After a moment, she came back to the bathroom, and closed the door behind her, to see Lucy in the mirror, watching her, annoyed.

"Sorry about that. I just had to make sure they were really gone."

"And are they?"

She looked at him. His dark aura grew. He didn't seem happy at all.

"Why are you so angry? I didn't do anything wrong."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "That may be the case. But every minute counts, especially with me. I cannot afford to waste another minute. Understood?"

She gulped. He may look like Ash, but she knew that the real Ash would never get this dark with her. Ever. She nodded.

Lucy smiled. "Good. Now where was I?"

"We were talking about me not being dead in that place?"

Like a light-bulb flashed above his head, Lucy gave her a warm smile. "Oh yea!"

For some reason, that little moment reminded her of the real Ash. _No wonder he said that they were similar._ She tried her best not to smile.

Lucy looked at her with a straight face. "But yea, my sister always relied heavily on black magic and science. She was more materialistic then me. But that was her specialty. While mine was desire and lust. Not necessarily anything sexual." He gave her his seductive smile again. "Well, at least not always anyway."

Misty blushed. "Just get on with it."

Lucy laughed. "Anyway, she created this transport device just in case if any one of her schemes would ever backfire. And let me be the one to congratulate you on that. You were the first to ever out do her in anyway. That is also a reason why you're my favorite human."

Misty scowled at him. "Why didn't you step in and stop her? You above anyone else, should have known how wrong all of that was."

He shook his head. "We cannot interfere with each other's so called work. We can work together, but it is forbidden for us to interfere." He slightly smiled. "And besides, I was curious to see how it would end. And to my surprise you defeated her with ease. Well with Pikachu no less, but still it was impressive."

Misty shook her head. "Wait, back up. You said she created a transport device? You're saying that locket was that device?"

Lucy grimaced. "Yes it was. She twisted black magic and science into that stupid trinket. Magic was used to lure Ash to open the locket so he can regain his memories, and let the darkness within him out, and consume the Ash you knew, forever more. However, she knew that you would step in to save him. So that light was designed to send you to a different dimension, and to make everyone forget about you instead. Either way, she would have won. On one hand, she would've had Ash as her dark man servant for all eternity, and on the other hand, she would get rid of you for revenge."

"And yet she still won." Misty gripped her hands into tight fists.

"At that time... yes, she won. But later I realized what she had done. By sending a mere human like you, into a Hell Dimension, where only vicious beasts lived, was bound to bring huge consequences. And I was right. By sending another living being from a completely different dimension to another, caused time and space to go haywire. Something like that should never have happened." He shook his head. "I may be evil, but I'm far from rash. She was just borderline insane."

Misty scoffed. "You're telling me. But, what happened to her?"

He looked at her, and smiled a devilish smile. "Don't worry about her. She's... well... let's just say that she would never deal with humans, or anyone, or anything for that matter, ever again."

Misty widened her eyes. He may be smiling at her, but his dark aura practically almost reached her. Even when he said that, his eyes went from dark almost black eyes, to bright red for a moment. She shivered. _They weren't kidding when he said that he was evil._

"B-but what happened in that dimension? I remember running from being chased by those things, and then I saw this bright white light out of nowhere. The next thing I knew, I was in Viridian City."

Lucy smiled at her sweetly, like a little kid proud of his work. "Oh that was me. I saved you."

The way he looked now, reminded her of Ash. If she didn't know any better, she would have said that they were the same person.

"But what about the time skip? Because when I came back to Viridian, I read in the newspaper that I was gone for five years, even though it felt like a few minutes. And then later, I realized that I only aged just a couple of years." _Not to mention that Ash is now older than me._ She bitterly said that last bit in her mind, clearly still ticked about that.

Lucy just smiled at her. "C'mon that's easy. Everyone knows that time is different if you're in a different dimension. A few minutes could easily translate to years. But as for the aging thing... I tried my best to make you catch up with your time as you traveled between dimensions." He rubbed the back of his head. "I guess I'm just a little rusty." He laughed awkwardly.

All she saw was Ash in that moment. _Geez. They really are alike._

Suddenly, Lucy's eyes went blank and he became stiff. After a moment, that dark almost black brown, returned in his eyes. He sighed.

"Two down. A whole lot more to go."

Misty blinked. "What?"

Lucy looked at her and sighed again. "It's Ash."

Misty's eyes went huge. "What!? What do you mean its Ash? Is he okay?"

He smiled at her a little awkwardly. "Relax Misty, Ash is just fine. Well beat up, but he'll live."

Misty breathed out in relief. She looked at Lucy in concern. "What did you mean two down and a whole lot more to go?"

Lucy sighed again. "Ash just closed another gap. Or crack in space. Or whatever you want to call it."

"Oh yea, Ash did mention something about that earlier. But..." She looked at Lucy with saddened eyes. "Why is he the only one that has to do it?"

Lucy grimaced at her expression. "You know, those puppy dog eyes may work on your boyfriend." He glared at her. "But definitely not on me."

She slightly jumped back from his menacing glare. "Could you at least tell me what's going on?"

Lucy sighed. "Well not long after Ash left you on that beach, I spoke to him yet again, since I really needed his help and all. Oh and I'm so sorry about that, Mist. You really didn't deserve that."

Misty's head was down and her bangs were covering her eyes in shadows. She was not in the mood to talk about that, not like this.

"Don't call me that. Especially if you're wearing his face."

Lucy shook his head. "Sorry. But if I talked to you in my true form... you would never recover. It would drive you mad for the rest of your life. That is why I appeared like someone you're comfortable with."

Misty squeezed her hands into fists. "Just don't call me that."

Lucy smiled a sad smile. "Fine. But you should know that when Ash comes back in a few years, he will look completely different."

She looked up at him. "What do you mean?"

"Think about it. Every single time a hole appears, a handful of those monsters, that you know all too well, come out and wreak havoc. For that crack to close, Ash must defeat every single monster that came out. Only then will the crack in space will close. For now he has closed two of them. And already he is banged and bruised up."

Misty swore out loud. "He should have brought Pikachu with him."

Lucy shook his head. "Pikachu wouldn't last a second with those things. He has to use everything he's got with him. Including himself."

A moment of silence passed, as Misty absorbed what she just heard.

"But don't worry. You and all of Vermilion are safe."

She looked up at him in surprise. "What do you mean?"

He smiled at her. "While it is true that those holes in space and time, could come up anywhere on the planet... but let's just say that we had an agreement. He does this for me, and I would get to keep only one city in the world safe from harm. And guess which one he picked?"

Misty just whispered. "Vermilion."

He smiled. "Bingo."

Misty stared at him in disbelief. "What about Pallet? That's where his mom lives! Doesn't he care about her?"

He smiled a sad smile at her. "I think you know why he picked Vermilion. What do you think was the only thing on his mind, since he hung up the phone?"

She looked at him in surprise, but didn't say a word. _Ash... you truly do love me. Don't you?_

His smile widened. "And there's your answer."

Misty looked away, trying to hold back the tears.

Lucy scoffed. "Tch. You know, I can never understand the concept of love. Like what is that about anyway? Fighting for love and justice. Sounds like a bad anime or something."

Misty blinked at Lucy a couple of times, until she broke into laughter.

Lucy blushed. "Yea, yea. Laugh it up."

When she calmed down, she smiled at him. "You know, with all things considered, you could be a good guy, if you really wanted to be."

At that Lucy blushed, hard. "Psh. As if."

Misty winked at him. "You never know unless you try."

Lucy's face was as red as a tomato. He looked away and coughed awkwardly. "Now I know what he sees in you." He side glanced at her. "You really are cute."

Now it was Misty's turn to be tomato red. Suddenly she realized something. _OMG did I just... flirt with the devil_? She mentally faced palm herself. _Yup I'm going to hell._

Lucy coughed awkwardly. "Well... looks like it's time for me to go. I hope you understood everything I told you before. And hopefully I can leave without anything unanswered." He looked at her expectantly.

Misty shook her head. "I can't think of anything to ask. And thanks for clearing everything up." She smiled sweetly at him.

Lucy closed his eyes and smiled as a sweat drop appeared over his head. "I think it'll be best if we never saw each other again. Under any circumstance."

Misty also sweat dropped. "I think that'll be for the best."

Lucy smiled and faded into the mirror until he completely disappeared. After a moment, Misty sighed a huge relief as she used the bathroom wall to slide to the floor.

 _Well, I guess that's that._ She looked up towards the mirror. _A few years, huh?_ _What should I do until then? I already promised Brock I'll get a job here in Vermilion. It's going to be safe here anyways. Maybe a quick visit to see my sisters?_ She shivered slightly. _Maybe that wouldn't be such a good idea, knowing how they could get._ Suddenly a light-bulb appeared over her head. _Oh I know! I'll start my own Water Gym here in Vermilion! Yea that would be awesome! Oh! And maybe build a water park for Pokémon right beside it!_ Her eyes were practically forming stars. _That would be a dream come true!_ Just like that, fire was burning hot in her eyes. _And I'll finally show that no-good-heart-breaker what water Pokémon are all about!_ She laughed in an evil way; fire still hot in her eyes. _Watch out Ash! The rematch of the century is right on your heels! And this time, I WILL WIN! ONCE AND FOR ALL!_


	11. The Night Before (10A)

**Forgotten Love**

 **Description: A Pokémon fanfic – Sequel to The Night Where It All Started**

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Pokémon! There enough said.

 **Rating:** T plus mature subject matter

 **Note:** _thoughts_

 **Ages:** Misty:26 Brock:30 Ash:28

* * *

 **Part 10 (A)**

"And the winner is... the Vermilion City, Water Gym Leader, Misty!"

Inside the beautifully decorated Water Gym, surrounded by an endless sea of adoring fans, Misty called back her Pokémon. Her opponent, a raven haired teenage boy, walked over to her with an awkward grin, scratching the back of his head.

"That was an awesome match! They weren't kidding when they said you were strong!"

Misty just looked at him. "I guess." Then a little smile crossed her lips. "If you keep training, then maybe one day, you can take me on again."

The boy practically beamed. "You bet! I'll train harder than ever before!"

Misty semi smiled at him. "I'll look forward to it."

The raven haired teenager bowed towards her. "Thanks for the opportunity, miss!" And just like that he ran off, while waving at her with a big grin.

Misty just watched him go. When he left, she turned towards the showers, when she was suddenly swarmed by fans and reporters.

"Congratulations on your recent victory!"

"That last move was amazing!"

"You're so strong!"

"This is you're 999th win! One more until 1000 wins! How do you feel about that?"

Completely surrounded and a little overwhelmed, she looked over the mob, to see two of her security guards rushing to her aid.

"Alright! That's enough! Can't you see she's tired! Leave her be!"

"That's right! Now everyone leave the Gym at once!"

Some complaining and shoving later, the last of the mob left her Gym. When her Gym was completely empty, both of her guards came back inside, and bowed towards her.

"Everyone is gone, besides the trainers and everyone else who works here."

Misty smiled, gratefully. "Thank you. Great job as usual."

The other guard also bowed towards her. "If that's all, then we'll now take our leave, miss."

Misty slightly bowed her head towards them. "Both of you... thank you for all of your hard work, as always."

In unison, they both bowed and left her alone. With a sigh, Misty headed towards her locker. Taking out her professional swimsuit, it only took a handful of minutes to change into it. Tying her hair back, and putting a water-proof net over her hair, she stepped inside her empty Gym, once again. She stopped, and took a look around, as a feeling of melancholy came over her.

Looking out, the Gym had a very high ceiling, for at least 20ft. The ceiling was shaped as a dome, with marble patterned water droplets, decorating the roof. The walls were painted in cerulean blue. At the back of the Gym, there were steel bleachers enough for at least 200 people. But what took the most of the space in the Gym, was the huge pool. On the surface, the pool was at least 20ft or so wide on both ends. Wide enough for even a Gyarados to swim around comfortably. The pool stretched so long that it almost reached the entrance and the showers, leaving only a little path of beautiful brown marble to walk on. That brown marble surrounded the pool on both ends, leaving enough space for people to walk two at a time, to reach the bleachers. However, there was a small island of brown marble on each side of the middle edges of the pool, specifically for one trainer to stand on, facing their opponent across the pool.

Misty walked towards the edge of her pool, and looked down. Below the surface, the pool was connected by glass like tunnels, to various smaller pools, for all her Pokémon, that were hidden underneath the Gym. She didn't need Poke-balls in this Gym to call upon her friends. She would just shout their name, and whatever pool they were in, they would quickly find their way to the main pool. No matter how big they were.

Misty semi smiled, when she thought back to that boy's reaction, when one of her larger Pokémon seemed to pop out of the water, from out of nowhere.

 _It's strange. I fought many trainers before... not that they were a challenge or anything. But... today that boy... the way he reacted to that little surprise, and even the way he battled, not to mention that hair... he reminded me off..._

Misty suddenly shook her head. _Snap out of it! He's not coming back! Not ever!_

Angrily, Misty dived into the pool. Coming up for air, she quickly began to swim laps around her Gym, as her mind was in chaos.

 _It's been four years since then! Four years! For all I know, he forgot about me! Hell, he probably did! I was doing so well until now! Hell, I even forgot about him!_ Misty couldn't finish a single lap, when feelings of melancholy returned. She rested against the edge of the pool, and began to cry.

 _It's not fair! It shouldn't have been like this! We were supposed to reunite and be happy! None of that crap shouldn't have happened! It's my entire fault that he's gone! And now he's... who knows where, saving the world from my mistake!_ She punched the marble wall of the pool, automatically wincing. _That... didn't hurt. Not one bit._ She climbed out of the pool, rubbing her hand in pain. _Owowow. Ok that hurt._

Walking towards the changing rooms, one of her trainers called out to her.

"Misty! There you are!"

Misty looked up to see a pretty brunette, with big brown eyes running up towards her. Despite her appearance, Misty knew that she was a very capable trainer, one of the reasons why Misty hired her.

"Hey, Michelle. Is something wrong?"

Michelle stopped when she noticed Misty's hand.

"Misty... what happened? You're hurt."

Misty shrugged it off, trying to hide her hand behind her back. "It's nothing. What's wrong?"

Michelle looked a little puzzled, but she shook it off with a smile. "Just wanted to let you know that everyone went home for the night. Oh! And you're boyfriend is waiting for you."

Misty froze. After a brief moment she cautiously asked Michelle. "Boyfriend?"

Michelle seemed a little confused. "Well, yea. You guys always hang out together, so I just figured you guys were dating. And besides, the way he flirts with like every girl, always gives me the creeps."

Misty blinked at her trainer a couple of times, until she broke into laughter. "Haha! Michelle, you're something else. He's not my boyfriend, he's my roommate. His name is Brock. He's actually a great guy, if you get to know him."

Michelle scoffed. "With a flirt-boy like that, no thank you."

Misty laughed out loud again. When she calmed down, she told Michelle that she would close the Gym when she leaves, and thanked her for her work. When Michelle left, Misty walked back towards the locker and showers. Inside, she changed out of her swim suite, dried off, and changed into light blue shorts, and a whit tank top. She took out her hair from her net, as it fell well beyond her shoulders, completely soaked.

Misty scowled. _C'mon! It was supposed to keep it dry_. _Great, now I have to go get a new one._ Unconsciously, Misty looked herself over in the mirror. Her shorts covering the top half of her thighs; her tank top perfectly fit every one of her curves, and her athletically fit arms and legs complimented her look. Looking at her face, she saw that she had a few bags under her bright blue eyes. She ran through her hair with her fingers, and noticed how long it was. She let her long, soaked, wavy orange hair go, as it gracefully fell to meet her bellybutton.

 _Well, at least its summer. If it was any other season, I would have definitely caught a cold._ Sighing, she put on her light blue jean jacket, and took a towel to dry her hair off, as she left towards the entrance to the Gym.

It was small enough area for about 50 people to fit in at once. On the left side, there was a lottery section for the trainers. On top of the lottery machine there was a simple sign: Choose five from fate. Win you're way to the Leader, defeat her, and win a badge of honor!

Misty shook her head still trying to figure out who the genius was responsible for the sign. Looking over to the right side, there was a large front desk with a phone and a desktop computer. Right beside it, was a waiting area with chairs and couches. On one of the couches, sat Brock and Pikachu.

"There you are, Misty."

"Pikachupi!"

They walked up to her, both smiling. "Another win huh? One more and it's a thousand wins. That alone is a milestone for any Gym Leader."

Misty towel dried her hair and semi smiled. "Yea, I guess."

Brock smiled awkwardly. "You went swimming again?" He shook his head and sighed. "We both know you go swimming when something is on your mind. Want to talk about it?"

Misty briefly stopped drying her hair. _How can I tell him? He would never understand. Well at least, not completely. I still didn't tell him everything that happened between me and Ash. It's all for the best, I guess._ She shook her head and continued to dry her hair. "It's nothing. I just... wanted to swim. That's all."

Brock of course, wasn't fooled. He sighed instead. "Well if you say so." Then he smiled widely. "Let's hurry. I made reservations at the restaurant tonight, to celebrate your win."

Misty laughed. "C'mon Brock, you do that every time I win a match. And besides, you only do that, so you could check out that waitress girl." She laughed at his embarrassed expression. "I know you too well, you can't hide, Brock. At least not when it comes to pretty girls."

Brock was practically as red as a tomato. "Whatever. Let's just get out of here, so we can change in time for dinner."

Misty sighed as she closed down her Gym. Ever since she won her very first match as the Gym Leader, Brock took her and Pikachu to a fancy restaurant out of curiosity. It didn't take long for Brock to fall head over heels for a regular waitress. Since then, Brock would drag them to that fancy restaurant, with any chance he could find, including her wins. It would be an understatement to say that, they were known regulars at that restaurant.

It only took them about half an hour to get back to their apartment, when Brock spoke up. "C'mon we got to hurry. It's already 5pm. We have to be there at 7."

Misty shook her head. "Brock, we have two hours. Relax, we have time."

Brock glared at her. "Not for you, we don't. It takes you forever to get ready. So go and get ready." He practically pushed her towards her room.

"Ok, ok. Geez, I'll go get ready."

She shook her head as she entered her room. She walked over to a large closet in her room, as she looked over her clothing, letting her mind wonder.

 _So much has happened these past four years; Telling Brock about my dream to build a Water Gym, Brock finding a sponsor for us to build the Gym, spending almost two years training while the building was under way, finding good trainers to join, even building a reputation. Heck, I even managed to open a Water Park! Well, it may not have been right beside the gym, but to think it was built on the same park where I bumped into... him._ She took out a simple, blue dress from her closet, as she shook her head. _No. He's not coming back. No matter how much I wish he could. He just won't, especially after all this time. I just have to accept that._

She sighed as she looked at the dress she was holding. _Ugh. I really don't want to wear this. But I have to since it's the dress code, for the stupid restaurant._

"Ugh! Brock! Do I really have to wear a dress to that restaurant? You know I hate dresses!" She exclaimed out loud in annoyance, with her bedroom door closed.

"For the millionth time Misty, yes you do. That's the way it is. Deal with it." Brock yelled back from somewhere else in the apartment.

"Ugh. Friggin know-it-all bossy pants." Said Misty under her breath.

"I heard that!"

Misty scowled and yelled back to her best friend. "Good, you weirdo!"

"Just hurry up and get ready!" Brock yelled back in annoyance.

Misty giggled as she changed into her dress, and started to work on her hair. Ever since he left... Brock has always been there for her, more than anyone else. Not only did he let her stay here, but he really helped in manifesting her dreams into reality. If it wasn't for him, she wouldn't know where she would have ended up. She'd most likely be a pathetic failure. No wonder people always thought that they were dating. They were close, but not THAT close. To her, Brock was more like a big brother. And besides, her heart was for one person, and one person alone. And for all she knew, he could be on the other side of the planet doing who knows what.

She sighed. After almost two hours of day dreaming and fixing up her hair, she looked herself in the mirror. Her orange wavy hair was now curled up towards her shoulders, and her makeup looked like it was done by a professional. Eyelashes curled up, blended in cover-up, a little bit of light blue eye-shadow, and natural pink lipstick. Walking out of her bathroom, she took her silver high-heels in hand, and walked out to the living room. Brock, in a black suite and black tie, looked her over and smiled.

"Well, about time. You look good. Well, good enough for a respected Gym Leader, at least."

Misty slightly blushed. "Oh shush."

Brock laughed. Misty looked down at Pikachu, wearing a black bow-tie. "Pikachu, you look handsome, as always."

Pikachu smiled at her happily. "Pika Pikachu!"

Both Brock and Misty laughed as they left the apartment, towards the restaurant. Luckily for Misty, the restaurant was nearby. As they went inside, they were automatically greeted, and were led to their regular table. Little did Misty know, that there was a surprise waiting for her after dinner. When they finished eating their meals, the waiters gathered around their table, as a regular sized round birthday cake was presented to her.

"Happy Birthday, Misty." Brock said with a big smile.

Misty stared at Brock, completely shocked. "I thought you forgot!"

Brock shook his head and smiled. "You think I forgot my best friend's birthday? Tsk, tsk."

Misty laughed. "Haha. Thank you, Brock!"

"Pikachupi! Pika Pikachu!" Pikachu yelled out happily.

Misty laughed. "Haha. Thank you Pikachu."

At that moment, the waiters, along with Brock, sang her the generic Happy Birthday song. Looking at the numbers of 2 and 6, Misty closed her eyes and wished for only one thing. It may be an impossible thing, but it couldn't hurt for hope. When she opened her eyes, she blew out the candles, and the celebrations continued.

By the time they left the restaurant, it was nearly 10 in the evening. Mostly due to the fact, that Brock kept talking up every girl he could find, since his favorite waitress, conveniently had a day off. And Misty was surrounded by young men shooting her compliments and birthday wishes, while offering to buy her drinks.

Leaving the restaurant, Misty had to help Brock stand up straight.

"Geez Brock, how much did you drink?"

Brock cried on her shoulder. "Wah! She wasn't here tonight! How could she!? My heart is broken!"

Misty sighed in annoyance. "C'mon Brock, get a grip."

He cried even harder on her shoulder. "WAH! YOU'RE SO MEAN!"

She was even more annoyed with him. "Brock, I swear to-" She noticed that Pikachu was acting strangely. "Pikachu?"

At that moment, Brock got off her shoulder, and they both looked at Pikachu who was still sniffing the air.

Misty walked over to her little yellow friend. "Pikachu?"

Pikachu smelled the air a couple more times, and then ran towards the sidewalk, by the street sniffing the air again.

Misty followed him. "Pikachu, what's wro-" When she reached the sidewalk with Brock, Pikachu was frozen in his spot, staring off towards the dark sidewalk.

"Pikachu, what's going on?"

Misty followed Pikachu's gaze down the dark sidewalk, covered in shadows. After a moment, she could see a figure slowly coming out of the shadows.

"Pika..."

She quickly looked at Pikachu, who looked like he just saw a ghost. Misty quickly looked back towards the dark figure, but this time this figure was almost under a streetlight, about two yards away from them.

Hands on her Poke-balls, she confronted the stranger before they could get any closer.

"Stop right there!"

The figure froze, right before the light of the streetlight. Misty was just inches away from sending out her Pokémon.

"Who are you? And what do you want!"

Pikachu sniffed the air again, but this time she couldn't believe what he said.

"Pikapi?"

 _What!? No way!_

The figure didn't move. Pikachu smelled the air again.

"Pikapi!" This time, he ran towards the figure and jumped in his arms.

 _It can't be..._

"Ash?" Brock asked, who completely sobered up by now.

The figure stepped into the streetlight, with Pikachu ecstatic in his arms.

Misty couldn't believe what she saw. He was much taller than she remembered. Almost taller than Brock. His raven hair a dark mess, a scar over his right eye, biceps clearly visible through his black shirt, as well as his eight-pack abs. Ripped jeans and dirty black shoes. He looked like a completely different guy, if it weren't for his eyes. There may be a scar over one, but looking into them, she could tell it was the same guy she loved so long ago, despite his drastic change in appearance.

"Hey guys. Long time." Ash said, sporting a wide grin.

Misty's heart skipped a beat, but she couldn't say anything.

"Ash!? Is that you!?" Brock said in disbelief.

Ash laughed. "Yea it's me, Brock. And it's great to see you."

Brock smiled widely, and walked up to his old friend, giving him a brotherly hug. "Ash, it's great to have you back! Where have you been? And look at you! You definitely have been working out!"

Ash laughed. "Haha, I guess you could say that."

Just then, Ash looked over towards Misty, who was still in shock. He smiled sadly. "Hey, Mist. It's good to see you."

Both Ash and Brock walked over to Misty. Ash pulled something out of his jean pocket, and handed it to Misty. "Here, I got you a little something." Misty took the little package, but just stared at him, still in shock. Ash looked her over once again, and smiled a sad smile. "You look beautiful, Mist. Happy Birthday."

Misty couldn't take it anymore, she began to cry.

"Oh no. Ash! Look what you made her do!" Brock yelled towards Ash, not knowing what to do.

"I didn't do anything! I swear!" Ash yelled back, a little panicked.

Suddenly, Misty jumped into Ash's arms, crying out loud, making a mess of her mascara. At that moment, Pikachu jumped off of Ash.

"ASH! IT'S YOU! IT'S REALLY YOU!"

After a moment of shock, Ash smiled a warm smile, and wrapped his arms protectively around his best friend. "Yea, Mist. I missed you too."

Misty cried even harder into his sturdy shoulder. After all this time, he actually came back. Even after telling herself all these years, thinking that he'll never return, or worse that he was dead. She cried harder from guilt, thinking back to when she even dared to forget about him. To think he came back just in time for her birthday. She couldn't believe that her wish actually came true, all she had to do was hold on to hope long enough. Relief, sadness, heartbreak, and other emotions erupted from her, she just couldn't stop crying.

"Hey, Mist. It's ok. I'm here now. Everything is all right." Ash hugged her even tighter.

After for what seemed like forever, Misty stirred in his arms. "Can't... breathe."

He instantly released her. "Oops, sorry. Guess I don't know my own strength yet." He laughed awkwardly.

She looked down, her orange bangs covering her eyes. "You... you were gone."

Ash saddened. "I know. I'm so sorry, Mist. I didn't mean it to be like this."

She sharply looked up at him, super annoyed, with mascara running down her cheeks. Ash jumped back a little in surprise. "Didn't mean it!? You left me on that beach, Ash! How did you think that made me feel!? And then you had the nerve to call me, and made it seem like it was nothing!"

Ash looked towards Brock for help. Brock only shook his head. "Sorry, Ash. This is all you." Brock laughed awkwardly. Ash then looked over to Pikachu for help, but Pikachu also shook his head with an awkward smile. Ash could only shoot them a look that clearly said "traitors." Both Brock and Pikachu laughed at that look, but Misty continued.

"Not to mention that you finally told me how you felt, OVER THE PHONE! The next thing I knew, you tell me you were leaving for a few years. HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO ME, ASH!?"

Ash put his hands up in surrender. "I'm sorry, ok! You don't even know how sorry I am, Mist. Deep down, I really am sorry!"

She was about to hit him on the arm, but instead she scoffed and quickly turned away from him. "Well, I don't, and will not forgive you. Not like this. You have to do better than that, Ash." With that, she angrily walked back towards the apartment, leaving a confused Pikachu, a worried Brock, and a shocked Ash, in the dust.

Storming towards the apartment entrance, and towards the elevator, she angrily pushed the button multiple times. _UGH! How could he do this! He thinks just by showing up on my birthday, that it'll make everything magically better!? I DON'T THINK SO!_

The elevator opened, the moment she stepped inside, she heard Ash's voice.

"Misty, wait!"

She quickly pressed the button for the door to close.

Unfortunately for Misty, Ash stopped the elevator door from closing, as he, Pikachu and Brock stepped inside. The doors closed, Brock pressed his floor button, and the elevator began to rise.

"Mist, c'mon don't do this. I said I was so-"

"I. Don't. Care. You clearly like doing whatever you want, no matter who you hurt along the way."

Ash's eyes were full of hurt. "Ok. I deserved that."

Misty stepped in front of Ash, knowing that the elevator will stop soon. "Of course you did."

The elevator door opened, and Misty stepped out first. "Let's go, Pikachu."

After a few steps ahead, she turned around to see Pikachu looking between her and Ash.

"Pikachu!" Misty raised her voice, towards her little yellow friend.

Ash sighed, and nodded at his oldest friend. Confused, Pikachu went over to Misty and followed behind her. Ash waited in the hallway with Brock, until Misty and Pikachu were out of ear-shot.

"Now you did it, Ash. I get why she's pissed. But taking Pikachu away from you like that? That's a little harsh."

Ash shook his head. "I know, Brock. I messed up. And technically Pikachu is still hers, at least for now."

Brock shook his head and looked at Ash. "So what's your plan now? Assuming you do have a plan. Right?"

Ash nodded. "I do." Suddenly he smiled mischievously. "Even though I know I'll win."

Brock looked at him a little surprised. "Wait, you're going to battle her?"

Ash nodded. "Mhm. And this time, I'll win fair and square." After a moment, his mischievous smile turned into a sad one. "And hopefully, if I win the match, I'll win something else."

Brock raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

Ash closed his eyes, but kept his sad smile. "The only thing I can win back... her heart."


End file.
